20 



A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



charcoal for sale. Among the tropical fruits which I tasted for the 

 first time were some " mamones/' a fruit which grows in bunches and 

 looks like a large green grape. The skin was rougher and thicker, 

 and when bitten split open, showing a sweetish, yellowish pulp 

 around a large stone. I also tasted some mangoes, a large pear- 

 shaped fruit with a smooth yellowish green skin. This, when peeled 

 off, showed a soft yellow pulp, something like our pawpaw but more 

 fibrous. It had a sicky sweet taste, with a flavor of turpentine 

 that made it very disagreeable to me. I also saw a fruit called 

 " cachii," pear-shaped, pink and yellow, with a lead-colored bean- 

 shaped excrescence at the larger end. The fruit which they speak 

 of highly here, the " nispero," we did not get. 



The diiferent kinds of money in circulation here is remarkable : 

 old Spanish, Portuguese, Venezuelan, English, Dutch, French, — 

 in fact, all kinds of coin. It is rather confusing to attempt to pay 

 an account made out in guilders and florins from change consist- 

 ing of francs, shillings, and reals. American gold, silver, and paper 

 passes freely, but not the five-cent nickel. Speaking of money 

 reminds me that an American contemplating a visit to South Amer- 

 ica need never trouble to get English gold. American gold is 

 taken, and passes freely everywhere. 



The natives speak a mongrel dialect called " Papamiento," and 

 even have several papers printed in it. It resembles Spanish some- 

 what, but includes a number of words of Dutch derivation. I 

 found it almost unintelligible. I succeeded, after a fashion, in 

 making myself understood in Spanish, as nearly all of the natives 

 speak a little of that language. 



Of domestic animals we saw a few small horses, donkeys about 

 waist high, curs, goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys, pigeons, and mus- 

 covy ducks. We saw for sale at different places a number of 

 young parrakeets, green, with dirty yeflow or buff-colored heads 

 (Coniiriis pertinax). They were not fully feathered, and we were 

 told that they had been taken towards the northwestern end of the 

 island. 



