86 How Theories are Manufactured 



regions, and therefore give a most erroneous idea of their 

 abundance in any one region. Many of them are very 

 rare, others extremely local, while a considerable number 

 of them inhabit the arid regions of Africa and India, in 

 which tropical vegetation does not exhibit itself in its 

 usual luxuriance. It has been the custom of travellers 

 to describe and group together all the fine plants they 

 have met with during a long journey, and thus produce 

 the effect of a gay and flower - painted landscape. 

 During twelve years spent amid the grandest tropical 

 vegetation I have seen nothing comparable to the effect 

 produced on our landscape by gorse, broom heather, 

 wild hyacinths, hawthorn, purple orchises, and butter- 

 cups." 



The splendid fruits fare no better at Mr. Wallace's 

 hands than the gorgeous flowers. " Many persons in 

 Europe are under the impression that fruits of delicious 

 flavour abound in the tropical forests, and they will no 

 doubt be surprised to learn that the truly wild fruits of 

 this grand and luxuriant archipelago are in almost every 

 island inferior in abundance and quality to those of 

 Britain. Wild strawberries and raspberries are found in 

 some places, but they are such poor tasteless things as 

 to be hardly worth eating, and there is nothing to com- 

 pare with our blackberries and whortleberries. The 

 kanary-nut -may be considered equal to a hazel-nut, 

 but I have met with nothing else superior to our crabs, 

 our haws, beech-nuts, wild plums, and acorns; fruits 

 which would be highly esteemed by the natives of these 

 islands, and would form an important part of their sus- 

 tenance. All the fine tropical fruits are as much culti- 

 vated productions as our apples, peaches, and plums, 

 and their wild prototypes, when found, are generally 

 either tasteless or uneatable." l 



Evidence to the same effect, and directed to the precise 

 point under consideration, is contributed by a corre- 

 spondent of my own, from the Western tropics. Writing 

 from the West Indian island of St. Vincent, he says : "A 

 1 Malay Archipelago, vol. ii. p. 103. 



