MY HOME ON THE HILLTOP. 101 



out such vines and flpvrering plants as I thought might 

 grow well here, and ,f?ucfe: as'-'lhe woods yielded me ; 

 but they were not rnany^ and Iwo'jld have given half 

 my cassava crop fol* '^ good^ old -fa^hidned flower gar- 

 den, filled with phlox, hollyhocks, balm, and fragrant 

 herbs, such as I wot of somewhere. 



In my search for flowering plants I found, in the 

 deserted plantation, a vine with flowers like those of 

 the morning-glory, but which proved of vastly more 

 importance, being nothing less than the sweet p6tato. 

 This, like the arrowroot, is native to tropical America, 

 and was carried to Europe even before the ordinary 

 potato. The Indians knew it as the hatata^ and its 

 scientific name {Ipomcea hatata) indicates its origin 

 and the family to which the plant belongs. I was 

 much rejoiced at obtaining cuttings of this valuable 

 vine, and set out as many as I could, near the 

 house. 



After I had become domiciled, and the aspect of 

 newness had given place to an air of permanency, I 

 had many visitors at the house, chiefly with feathers 

 on them. My dear old mocking bird seemed to miss 

 me very much at the beach, and I did the best I 

 could to induce him to move to my new abode ; but 

 it was a long time before he could be made to under- 

 stand where I had gone. Birds are more restricted, 

 as to their flights and habitat, than is generally be- 

 lieved. Such as the mocking bird prefer short flights 

 and a narrow hunting range, to wandering over large 

 spaces. Th^ mile that separated my two houses was 

 sufficient to give me an entirely new class of birds, 



