102 IsLES OF SUMMER. 
they ate it. Others indulged in its use freely and with apparent 
impunity. We were at first very incredulous when stories reached 
us seriously reflecting upon it asa disguised enemy of the human 
stomach and constitution. We gave it our confidence, and also 
room very near to our hearts. We defended it to the best of 
our ability, with zeal if not with knowledge. We said it was an 
impeachment of Divine Providence to allege that its golden links 
of most delicious sweetness—so tempting to the four senses— 
sight, touch, taste and smell—were indigestible, health-destroy- 
ing, deceitful and bad. But we began finally, to have doubts, 
and at last thought we perceived after eating them, an unpleas- 
ant sensation right in the center of one of our seats of happiness. 
We inquired concerning it of physicians, and found, as in other 
cases where experts testify, that they widely and materially dif- 
fered. Very reluctantly and with some misgivings, we are com- 
pelled to admit, that, being plucked when quite green, for that 
or some other reason, it does not agree with all, and in many 
cases is injurious to health, yet the banana is said to be ‘‘ exten- 
sively used for food, and in many of the Pacific islands it is the 
staple on which the natives depend. In its immature condition, 
it contains much starch which on ripening changes into sugar. 
* * * Brom the unripe fruit, dried in the sun, a useful and nutri- 
tious flour is prepared.” —[ British Encyclopedia.] It would seem 
from the published analysis of the fruit, and of the flour made 
from it, that it must generally bea healthy article of diet for 
healthy people, and our advice, if asked, would be that once given 
to us by a skillful and experienced physician—‘“ eat of it, if you 
like, until you ascertain by your personal experience that to you 
it is hurtful.” 
The banana is an herbaceous plant, and, after fruiting, its top 
dies, but it annually sprouts again from its roots. It attains a 
height of from fifteen to twenty feet, and its curved and droop- 
ing leaves have a width of from one to two feet. 
