182 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



July 



2 ft. in length. Commencing at the 

 eaves they begin to tie them on very 

 thick so as to leave the roof about 8 

 or 10 inches thick. One of these 

 roofs when well put on will last for 

 10 years. After the roof is finished, 

 then the sides are put on. These con- 

 sist of strong bark that comes from 

 the upper part of the tree which is 

 tied onto poles which are tied secure- 

 ly to posts. These barks are general- 

 ly put on thick, making a siding 

 more than an inch thick. Now we 

 have the roof and siding. Well, in 

 9 cases out of ten nature provides for 

 the floor. A hole cut through the 

 side with a bark to stop it at night 

 makes a window in lots of cases. 

 These same barks tied to poles with 

 strings for hinges makes the door (a 

 few have board doors) these barks 

 make the partitions, i. e. some use 

 these barks in preference to the boards 

 for they are much quicker and easier 

 put on, now we have the house com- 

 plete. These royal palms blossom 

 about every two weeks. The blossoms 

 are very large and very beautiful 

 when new ; in a few days there is a 

 fruit that begins to set, or rather a 

 nut. It is, when grown, about the 

 size of corn or a little larger, and a 

 good bunch will weigh 150 lbs. These 

 are very nutritious and are next to 

 corn for hogs. They will ripen in 

 four months and turn a bright red. 

 Then cut them and hang the bunch 

 up over the pigs and in a few days 

 they will all drop off. This is the best 

 of feed and besides you have a very 

 durable broom by just tying a couple 

 of strings around it. Though only 

 about 2^ ft. long the poor have to get 

 along with it. So now what do you 

 think ? Name another tree out of 



which the natives (or any body for 

 that matter) can build a house with 

 all material, shingles, boards, nails all 

 complete, besides the best of feed for 

 hogs, and then a broom with which 

 to keep the house clean. I don't be- 

 lieve there is another that grows. As 

 for the war, as yet there is not much 

 fighting going on, but the natives are 

 making big preparations for some- 

 thing to come in the near future. 

 Shiploads of arms have been bought 

 in the last twelve years by leading 

 men from here and have been ship- 

 ped to Florida covered with tallow, 

 then wrapped in greased rags and 

 packed in very tight boxes and bury- 

 ed along the coast where it would be 

 most convenient to load them at the 

 proper time. Immense sums of money 

 have been raised and like the arms 

 stored away in safety awaiting the 

 proper time. Several small gun-boats 

 have also fell into the revolutionist 

 hands, they have 20,000 followers in 

 Florida and Mexico, the war was not 

 planned to break out here before July. 

 Then with half the population of the 

 island, with large reinforcements from 

 abroad, of money arms and men, they 

 expected to take Spain by surprise. 

 But they are watching all the time so 

 closely that they have got wind of it 

 a little before hand and are hustling 

 troops here as they have never done 

 before, A few important leaders 

 have organized small bands of natives 

 in the extreme eastern end of this is- 

 land and are playing hide and seek in 

 the mountains there, but no real bat- 

 tles are expected till after July when 

 most of this year's crops and work will 

 be over, and when the down pour of 

 rain is getting well under way. The 

 nature of this soil is such that no man 



