OUR ISLAND 23 



high class ; the finger cherry " Pool-boo-nong " of the blacks 

 {Rhodomyrtus macrocarpd), possesses the flavour of the cherry 

 guava, but has a most evil reputation. Some assert that 

 this fruit is subject to a certain disease (a kind of vegetable 

 smallpox), and that if eaten when so affected is liable to 

 induce paralysis of the optic nerves and cause blindness 

 and even death. Blacks, howevei, partake of the fruit un- 

 restrictedly and declare it good, on the authority of tradi- 

 tion as well as by present appreciation. They do not pay 

 the slightest respect to the injurious repute current among 

 some white folks. Perhaps some trick of constitution or 

 some singularity of the nervous system renders them 

 immune to the poison, as the orange pigment said to reside 

 in their epidermis protects them from the actinic rays of 

 the sun. Does not Darwin assert that while white sheep and 

 pigs are upset by certain plants dark-coloured individuals 

 escape. At anyrate blacks are not affected by the fruit, 

 though large consumers of it, and many whites also eat of 

 it, raw and preserved, without fear and without untoward 

 effects. Some of the Eugenias produce passable fruits, and 

 one of the palms {Caryotd) bears huge bunches of yellow 

 dates, the attractiveness of which lies solely in appearance. 



Quite a long list of pretty fruits might be compiled, and 

 yet not more than half a dozen are edible, and only half 

 that number nice. The majority are bitter and acrid, some 

 merely insipid, and of the various nuts not one is satisfactory. 



Why all this profuse vegetation and the anomaly of 

 tempting fruits and nuts cram-full of meat and yet no 

 real food — that is, food for man ? Is it that man was an 

 after -thought of Nature, or did Nature fulfil herself in his 

 splendid purpose and capacities ? She supplies abundantly 

 food convenient for birds and other animals lower in the 

 scale of life, but man is left to master his fate. Even 

 when uncivilised he is called upon to exercise more or less 

 wit before he may eat, and the higher his grade the more 

 stress upon his intelligence. 



When one contemplates the unpromising origin of the 

 apple of to-day, and the rich assortment of fruits here 



