72 EVERYDAY LIFE ON A 



become grey, and lose the brown shade we are 

 accustomed to see, and at the first glance, and 

 in the distance I thought for a moment they 

 were skulls, and that I might have come upon 

 some weird scene of devil worship ; but a 

 moment's consideration showed me that it was 

 the cocoanut nursery, looking very cool and 

 picturesque with its surroundings of plantain 

 trees and yams. A caretaker is very necessary, 

 for I am told there is nothing more tempting 

 to the natives than to steal cocoanuts out of a 

 freshly made nursery. In this place fifty were 

 stolen in one night. 



Growing cocoanuts is a very paying business. 

 After the first seven years they require scarcely 

 any cultivation. They are enriched by grazing 

 tethered cattle under their shade. A tree in 

 full bearing is supposed to produce forty nuts. 

 These can be sold for six cents each ; or if 

 you prefer a still easier plan, each tree can be 

 leased for a rupee. I am of course speaking 

 now of those that are grown amongst other 

 products. On the large low country cocoanut 

 estates, which belong principally to burghers 

 or to natives, everything is done on a large 

 scale, and money made from many products 

 of the same tree. The natives in Dumbera 

 grow them a good deal with bananas planted 

 between. I call them bananas, having been 

 accustomed to the tree in Queensland, where 



