A SPRING VISIT TO NASSAU. 777 



of trees in Nassau belonging to this same family, the Leguminosce, 

 having pulselike fruit, as the sweet pea and honey locust, although 

 the pods vary greatly in shape and size. One of these, that loses its 

 leaves in the winter season, has hanging upon its branches a great 

 number of delicate pale-yellow pods, about eight inches long, which, 

 swaying in the wind, so fill the air with a soft, murmuring noise that 

 it has been called the singing tree (Albizzia Lebbek). They are plen- 

 tiful about the town. Another species (Poinciana pulcherrima), 

 nearly related to the sensitive plant (Mimosa), also loses its leaves in 

 the winter, but bears pods quite different in appearance. These 

 pods are long, some measuring twenty-four inches, dark-colored, 

 even almost black. A fine group of these trees surrounds the 

 library building. A few vines belonging to this family are interest- 

 ing, especially the Abrus precatorius, or wild licorice. Twining 

 over the tops of the trees, it produces small pods growing in clusters, 

 in which are bright-red seeds with a black spot on one end. These 

 seeds are known to almost all children as Guiana peas or " Black-eyed 

 Susans." They have been extensively used for ornaments in shell 

 work, and it is not uncommon to hear people say they thought they 

 were a kind of shell or some part of one, so associated are they with 

 such work. Then there is the nicker (Guilandina), a prickly 

 trailing shrub. We were told that boys take the yellow or olive- 

 colored seeds from the flattened prickly pods and use them instead 

 of marbles for playing games. There are pods of an innumerable 

 variety of shapes and sizes, some that twist in opening, others that 

 curl in fact, pods of every description are to be found in this re- 

 gion. 



The most remarkable tree on the island of New Providence 

 is without quesion a specimen of the silk cotton (Bombax Ceiba), 

 situated near the post office and prison. Growing from its trunk 

 are half a dozen buttresslike extensions, as if to make a firm footing 

 for its great spread of branches of one hundred and sixteen feet. A 

 little boy, to whom I showed a photograph of it, expressed its appear- 

 ance very well when he said the spaces between the buttresses would 

 make fine horse stalls. The pods which grow on the tree contain 

 a soft, silky material which the natives sometimes use for stuffing pil- 

 lows. There are more of these trees, but none so large or old as this 

 one, and we heard no estimate of its age. It is a near relative of the 

 monkey tamarind. Between this Bombax and the library is an 

 avenue of Spanish laurel, a member of the fig family untidy and 

 inelegant trees, with a growth of roots hanging from their branches 

 which never reach the ground. We saw in the hospital grounds 

 a specimen of the same family, which is called the wild fig. 

 About three miles from Nassau is another species of fig* errone- 



