1895.] ESSAYS. 43 



in ray foot. After dinner I remarked to the planter's wife that some- 

 thing was the matter with my foot and I could not stand it any longer. 

 She invited me into her room, and upon examination exclaimed, "You 

 have a jigger in your foot, a bad one," and very dexterously cut it out 

 with a penknife, much to ray relief. There are miles of cocoanut 

 trees here. The plantation we visited contained a grove of 12,000 

 trees. They grow to a height of fifty or sixty feet. The leaves are 

 fifteen feet long, shaped like a fern ; two leaves are shed annually. 

 They .droop gracefully from the top of the trunk, the nuts being in a 

 cluster at the base of the leaves. The natives go up like monkeys 

 and slash off the nuts with a knife. The cocoanut palm thrives well 

 near the salt water. The nut is a great traveller, and finding a rest- 

 ing-place on some reef with only a little moisture, germinates and 

 grows into a graceful tree, affording food, utensils and numberless 

 aids to man. The nut, before it is ripe, is nearly all milk ; and the 

 natives never think of eating it when hardened, as we have them here. 

 They drink the milk and eat the soft nut with a spooq. They use 

 cocoanut oil made from the hardened nut. 



Dominica is said to be the loftiest of the Antilles. Some of the 

 mountains are volcanic, sometimes discharging burning sulphur. 

 The springs possess medicinal virtues ; some are hot enough to boil 

 an egg. J-{osewood is common in the forests. Honey and wax are 

 abundant. Roseau is the capital. We entered Prince Rupert's Bay, 

 and anchored oft" Portsmouth, where we procured a quantity of yams 

 and bananas. The yam is a good substitute for the Irish potato. 

 When the paring is taken off it is white. We found it very palatable, 

 prepared like mashed potato. It is not sweet as many imagine. The 

 tubers are of enormous size, weighing several pounds each. The song 

 says "The yam will grow." I don^t think there is anything in the 

 potato family that can beat it in size. 



The next morning, after we had anchored in the bay, a boat came 

 alongside containing two boys who had rim away from a whale-siiip ; 

 they begged us to take them home, but before we could make any 

 arrangement with the poor fellows the police-boat hove in sight and 

 they were taken back to the whale-ship. They had had enough of 

 the romance they had read about in dime novels, but they must finish 

 the term of service for which they enlisted. 



The island of Haiti presents a beautiful picture. It is a range of 

 mountains rising from the sea. The smoke curling upwards here and 

 there, which we noticed as we drew nearer, was caused by the burning 

 of brush by the natives. The meaning of the word is the land of 



