10 



FERTILITY. 



after Goa and Zanzibar, by the wondrous fertility 

 of the land. All that meets the eye is luscious 

 green ; cocoas, jacks, limes, and the pyramidal 

 mangoes grow in clumps upon the rises ; 

 the wild solanum with bright yellow apples, 

 and the castor shrub, rich in berries, spread 

 over the uncultivated slopes ; excellent rice, of 

 which the Island formerly paid tribute, clothes 

 the lowlands, and the little fields bear crops of 

 holcus and sesamum, vetches as Thur (Cajanus 

 Indicus), Mung (Phaseolus radiatus), and Ghana 

 or Gram (Cicer arietinum), with manioc, and 

 many species of garden-stuff and fruit-trees, 

 esj)ecially oranges aiul citrons. The eternal 

 humidity — pani jo ghano sukh, say the Ban- 

 yans — unfavourable to human, fosters vegetable 

 development in a luxuriance more oppressive 

 than admirable. After a few minutes' climb we 

 entered Chak-Chak, which, like a Brazilian 

 country-town, consists of one long narrow lane. 

 It is formed by square huts of wattle and dab, 

 raised upon platforms of tamped clay : each 

 tenement has a ' but ' and a * ben,' and most are 

 fronted by a deep verandah, where poultry, 

 fruit, and stale fish are exposed for sale by many 

 familiar faces hailing from Ilindostan. 



My first visit was to the Wall or Governor, 



