A Sojourn in Cuba 
ture was the agave. It is sometimes used for 
fencing. One day, in looking back from the top 
of the Morro Hill, as I was returning to the 
Island Belle, I chanced to observe two poplar- 
like trees about twenty-five feet in height. 
They were growing in a dense patch of cactus 
and vine-knotted sunflowers. I was anxious to 
see anything so homelike as a poplar, and so 
made haste towards the two strange trees, mak- 
ing a way through the cactus and sunflower 
jungle that protected them. I was surprised to 
find that what I took to be poplars were agaves 
in flower, the first I had seen. They were almost 
out of flower, and fast becoming wilted at the 
approach of death. Bulbs were scattered about, 
and a good many still remained on the branches, 
which gave it a fruited appearance. 
The stem of the agave seems enormous in size 
when one considers that it is the growth of a 
few weeks. This plant is said to make a mighty 
effort to flower and mature its seeds and then to 
die of exhaustion. Now there is not, so far as 
I have seen, a mighty effort or the need of one, 
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