vi THE SPKEADING OF FOOD-PLANTS 65 



was easy ; it was the next step that was not quite 

 so simple. The explorer was afraid that the prudent 

 Corsicans might not care to give him grafts of their 

 good citron stocks, for the same reason that the 

 Government in South Africa will not let either 

 ostriches or ostrich* eggs go out of their country if 

 they can help it. The Corsicans might be disposed 

 to say : " We can send you all the citron peel you 

 want for your Christmas cakes, and we are quite 

 willing to go on doing it ; we don't at all want you 

 to grow your own peel." 



The explorer thought therefore that perhaps he 

 would be wiser to go right up into the interior of 

 the country where the people might be less cautious. 

 They were less wise, no doubt, but they did not 

 care for strangers, and the policeman promptly put 

 the poor botanist into jail on the ground that he 

 was a suspicious foreigner with no passport and no 

 apparent business. The prison was very dirty, and 

 the explorer was both very anxious to get out and 

 very reluctant to explain fully what his real 

 business was. He had no official papers either, for he 

 had foolishly left them behind at the port. How- 

 ever, he had in his pocket an American cheque, and 

 he declared to the guard that this was the paper 

 required which proved that he was an American 

 citizen, and had better not be meddled with, 



Eventually the policeman gave in, and the botanist 



F 



