CULTIVATION OF SISAL IN THE BAHAMAS 219 



However, it is rarely smooth, but is rough and jagged with innumer- 

 able points and crevices, so as to resemble somewhat the appearance 

 of a well-thawed mass of snow-ice. In most places, also, there are 

 numerous holes, from a few inches to many feet in diameter; and it is 

 in these holes, cracks, and crevices that what little earth there is can be 

 found — still, this little seems sufficient to support the dense vegetation. 

 Some of the other islands — Eleuthera, for instance — have consider- 



FlG. 9. — CJearing the " Pine-yard " for Sisal near Nassau, N. P. 



able depth of soil; but it is when growing on the bare, rocky ground 

 described above that the sisal is said to produce fiber of the best 

 quahty. 



Given the land, the next step is to clear it, and the method of clear- 

 ing varies according to the character of the vegetation. If it is pine- 

 yard, a fire is started, which burns off the May-pole; the pines are 

 then cut down, and either made into charcoal or laid in rows across the 

 fields and allowed to decay; if coppet, the trees and shrubs are cut 

 down with axes or cutlasses, according to their size, and the brush 

 is then burned. 



