MY FRIENDS POMONA AND CERES. 93 



If it appear that I seem lazy, I shall offer no de- 

 fense, as I have become so and was not bom so. 

 The easiest way is always the best, bnt some people 

 are not satisfied with that, and spend their time hunt- 

 ing out one more difficult. 



In that same abandoned field I found what gave 

 me a thrill of joy at beholding : some stalks of maize, 

 or Indian corn. Like cassava, indigenous to America, 

 yet the maize {Zea mays) has had a more general dis- 

 semination throughout the world than the other, and 

 now supplies the staff of hfe to millions. Yet at one 

 time it was known only to the American Indian, and 

 was first discovered by Europeans in these very islands 

 of the West Indies. 



I don't think Columbus himself could have experi- 

 enced greater satisfaction when Indian Guacanagari 

 brought him those golden grains, on the coast of Haiti 

 in 1492, than I did at the sight of the majestic maize 

 stalks growing in this deserted corner of Tobago. 

 There were some large ears on the stalks, but nearly 

 divested of grain by the birds ; and, as Crusoe says, 

 in narrating his own experience, "I carefully saved 

 the Ears of Corn, you may be sure, in their Season." 

 And then there were the pineapples. Crusoe does 

 not mention them, but they were there, probably; 

 great, juicy, luscious fruits, with tufts of leaves like 

 a cacique's crown. They, too, are American products. 



The season for planting is almost any time, but 

 best in the first three months of the year. Begin- 

 ning in January, utilizing the spare time from my 

 hunts, I worked in the soil night and morning ; and 



