WHERE BANANAS GROW. 



497 



thirteen. A bunch of eight hands is a three-quarter bunch, one 

 of seven hands a half bunch, and a six-hand bunch sells for a 

 quarter or a third of the full-bunch price. Bunches below this 

 size are not ordinarily marketable. Since a hand may contain 

 from a dozen to twenty fruits or " fingers/' the number in a mar- 

 ketable bunch may vary from six to twenty dozen. The poorer 

 bunches are sometimes reserved for the few schooners still in the 



FIG. 4. LOADING AT THE WHARF, PORT ANTONIO. 



trade, chiefly with our Southern ports, while all the best go by 

 steamers. 



Originally the entire trade was carried on in sailing vessels, 

 but their slowness and uncertainty have compelled them to give 

 way to the present fleet of stanch and fast steamers, whose regu- 

 lar time of about five days to New York and six to Boston f rbm 

 Jamaica, or half a day less from Baracoa, Cuba's largest fruit 

 port, gives them every advantage in the transportation of perish- 

 able freight, in spite of greater running expenses. Most of these 

 steamers, while built especially for the fruit trade, are of the 

 class called tramps, taking short charters wherever they can ob- 

 tain them, and with no allegiance but to their owners. It is with 

 a twinge of regret that an American sees ship after ship, as she 



