100 ISLES OF SUMMER. 



SO that oranges in our cities are nearly as cheap and plenty as 

 apples, it is less necessary to visit the lands where they are indig- 

 enous, or in which they have become naturalized, in order to 

 enjoy their beauty of color, delicious fragrance, and exquisite 

 flavor. But some fruits are too delicate and destitute of keeping 

 qualities to admit of ex^oortation to distant lands. Others are 

 taken from the trees before they are fully ripe, and never acquire 

 on shipboard or in northern markets the perfection which only 

 the tropical sun and air can impart. Besides, a tropical orchard 

 loaded with fruit, some in all stages of development from flower 

 to fruit, is a most charming sight, and alone compensates for the 

 discomforts and fatigues of a long journey. Each member of 

 the whole citrus family must be seen at its home to be fully aj)- 

 preciated. Boxes, barrels and baskets are a very poor substitute 

 for the waxen and varnished leaves in which the golden balls 

 nestle by thousands in the closely compacted tree toj^s. 



In Nassau, as well as in Florida, oranges and bananas and 

 other tropical fruits have a prominent place, in their season, in 

 the breakfast and dinner bills of fare. Every morning at the 

 Victoria Hotel, with some few exceptions, as soon as we had 

 taken our seats at the breakfast table, there was placed before 

 us a large fruit dish filled with oranges and bananas, together 

 with a bill of fare, a pencil and a slip of paper. After making 

 out and giving to our neatly dressed, polite, and generally effi- 

 cient table servant, our breakfast order, the fruit, regaled and con- 

 soled us while our breakfast was being prepared. With the fruit 

 dish before us, there was no limit to our indulgence except that 

 which appetite and a wise discretion imposed. We found the 

 Bahama oranges of good size, and excellent flavor, a trifle sAveeter 

 than those of Florida, owing, we conclude, to the fact that they 

 matured and ripened in a warmer climate. The bananas were 

 of a superior quality. After the long fast of the night, the rich. 



