ON A SUGAR ESTATE. 229 



CHAPTER XIV. 



A MONTH ON A SUGAR ESTATE. 



OUT OF THE FOREST. INTO A SICK-BED. MY GOOD ANGEL. 

 CONVALESCENCE. RUTLAND VALE. THE HAPPY VALLEY. 

 NOCTURNAL NEIGHBORS. THE LABOR QUESTION. A PLANT- 

 ER'S TRIALS. COOLIE IMMIGRATION. THE NEGRO, RETURN- 

 ING TO SAVAGERY. A SELF-APPOINTED PHYSICIAN. GOV- 

 ERNMENT HOUSE. TREES OF THE TROPICS. BREAD-FRUIT 

 AND COCOA-PALM. FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH BREAD-FRUIT. 

 ITS APPEARANCE. TASTE. HISTORY OF ITS INTRODUC- 

 TION. ABUNDANCE IN ST. VINCENT. THE PALMS, THEIR 

 GREAT BEAUTY AND UTILITY. COCOA-PALM, PALMISTE, GROO- 

 GROO AND GRIS-GRIS, ARECA AND MOUNTAIN PALMS. THE 

 VINE WITH PERFORATED LEAVES. THE INDIAN MAIDEN. 



ON the morning of the twentieth of December I 

 cantered into town from Carib Country ; at 

 night I lay stretched out with fever, having galloped, 

 as it were, from the woods to my bed. For ten days 

 I had been suffering from the effects of a severe cold, 

 caught in the cave on the volcano. In two weeks 

 there remained but a wretched apology of my former 

 self, and the doctor ordered that I remove what little 

 there was left of me to the country as soon as I could 

 walk, or mount a horse. 



The days passed wearily. I had exhausted all the 

 resources of the room ; had watched my favorite 

 lizard as he caught flies on the window-pane, and 



