TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



189 



which it, and all others of its species now growing 

 have been propagated, was found flowering in a 

 Burmah temple during the Viceroyalty of Lord 

 Amherst, from whom it receives its name. It is ex- 

 tremely difficult to propagate in any way, while only 

 in very exceptional situations, such as the hot damp 

 gully in Trinidad gardens, can it be induced to 

 flower. Here for the first time in the West Indies 

 have its blossoms been seen. 



But let me ask the present generation in Trini- 

 dad — with the exception of what Sir George Le 

 Hunte is now doing to restore it to its for- 

 mer state, — what part has it taken to improve what 

 has been left to us by Sir Ralph Woodford, by 

 Lockhart, or by Prestoe ? I hope someone will be 

 able to answer, for I can't. Surely the public voice 

 if raised would be heard. 



I am aware that in this age of progress the 

 majority of people are more interested in making 

 two pods of cocoa grow where only one grew before ; 

 and thirty tons of sugar cane, where they were for- 

 merly only able to grow twenty ; and so on in pro- 

 gresive quantities with other produce. 



I assure you, my fellow colonists, that I would 

 be delighted to see four cocoa pods grow where you 

 ask only for two, or forty tons of canes instead of 

 twenty ; but I certainly would not like to devote my 

 whole time, energy and health, as some of you are 

 doing, in this sole contemplation. Is such a consi- 

 deration, however intoxicating its prospects may be, 

 a justification for neglecting to cultivate, or assist 



