A TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 23 



money, for if a man accumnlates ten dollars he is provided for as 

 far as he can see. The Com pan}' had been obliged to provide and 

 sell them lanterns for lighting their houses, and shoes for their 

 feet ; to induce tliem to buy sardines, lobsters, etc. ; and to 

 encourage the women to use mirrors, beads, ribbons, etc., so that 

 the}' might spend their money and go to work again. The labor- 

 ers find that work does not hurt them but improves their appetites. 



Negroes from Alabama planted cotton and could pick it every 

 day in the year ; it grows to a tree in that climate, and it must be 

 pruned to keep it within reach of the pickers. They had to encour- 

 age their laborers to raise food, for, though a man could raise 

 sufficient food for his family with very little labor, they would beg 

 of countrymen. 



In answer to a question how long it took for cotton to grow into 

 a tree, Mr. Brigham said that in six months it grew so high that he 

 could not reach the lower branches, and the stem was eight inches 

 thick, and a ladder was required to pick it. This was in latitude 

 15° on the Atlantic. 



The rainy season lasts about nine months ; every night during 

 that time it rains so heavily that an umbrella is of no use. The 

 dry season is not like that of California, where the dust is six or 

 eight inches deep ; but there are several showers every week. The 

 highest range of the thermometer was 86°, which is not so uncom- 

 fortable as 76° in Boston ; and the lowest was 70°. There is no 

 summer and no wmter, and you can plant so as to have crops 

 come into use every day in the year. If pineapples are ripe in 

 January this year, the}' will not be ripe at the same time next 

 year, but in nine months from the preceding crop ; and the case is 

 the same with bananas. The pineapples average five pounds in 

 weight, and the whole interior is eatable. Some bananas form seeds, 

 but in most varieties the seed is abortive. When sprouting they 

 look not unlike crocuses. The stem of the banana is cut down as 

 soon as it has borne its fruit ; it contains a fibre between hemp and 

 silk in character. 



The greatest drawback to settling in the country is the absolute 

 isolation; the natives are no society. There is malaria, as there 

 is in all countries where forests are being cleared, but it is probably 

 not anything like as troublesome as colds are here. His son had 

 been there three years and was as healthy as any man in Boston. 

 There is a difference in the character of the coasts ; the low land 



