218 CULTIVATION OF SISAL IN THE BAHAMAS 



the whole interior is one vast " pine-yard," made up of the Bahama pine 

 (Pinus hahamensis). The trees are generally small, and from ten to 

 twenty feet apart. Under them is very frequently a dense undergrowth 

 of a tall brake, which is often six or seven feet high, and is known by 

 the natives as "May-pole." 



"Swash" is a very expressive term to denote the low swampy 

 ground, of which there are thousands of acres on the west coast. Here 



Fig. 8. — " Swash," West Side of Andros. 



the soil is soft and is composed of comminuted calcareous particles; 

 it supports no vegetation except innumerable small mangroves (Rhi- 

 zophora mangle), here and there small " button- woods " (Conocarpus 

 erectus), a few "salt bushes" (Avicennia nitida), and in some places 

 palmettoes. So far as sisal cultivation is concerned, the swash is 

 utterly valueless; but the pine-yard and coppet are both available. 

 In neither of these, however, is there what we recognize here as " soil" ; 

 and at first it was a source of wonder to the writer that anything at all 

 could grow there, for the surface is very largely the bare coral rock. 



