xvi 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE CHIEF NUTRITIVE PLANTS OF THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



Rice. — Aspects of Rice-Fields at Different Seasons. — The Rice-Fields of Ceylon. — Ladang 

 and Sawa Rice. — Rice in South Carolina. — The Rice-Bird. — Paddy. — Maize. — When first 

 brought to Europe. — Appearance of the Plant. — Its Enormous Productiveness. — Freedom 

 from Disease. — Wide Extent of its Cultivation. — Benjamin Franklin's Account of Maize. — 

 Millet. — The Bread-Fruit. — Its Taste. — Modes of Cooking. — The Banana and Plantain.— 

 Their Great Productiveness. — The Sago Palm. — Manufacture of Sago. — Sago Bread.— 

 Cheap Living. — A Siesta and Starvation. — The Cassava. — Yams. — The Sweet Potato. 

 —Arrow Root.— The Taro Root.— Tropical Fruits.— The Chirimoya.— The Litchi.— The 

 Mangosteen. — The Mango. — The Durion. — Its Taste and Smell. — Large Fruit on Tall 

 Trees, Page 645 



CHAPTER VIL 



SUGAR — COFFEE — CHOCOLATE — COCA— SPICES. 



Sugar: Its Importance. — The Home of the Sugar-Cane. — Ancient Theories about Sugar. — Tha 

 Introduction of the Cane into Europe and America. — Characteristics of the Plant. — Mode of 

 Cultivation. — Coffee: Its Home.— Introduction into Egypt and Europe, and elsewhere. — 

 Present Coffee Countries. — Coffee Culture in Brazil. — Agassiz's Description of a Coffee 

 Estate. — The West Indies and Ceylon. — The Coffee-Plant. — Methods of Preparing the 

 Berries.— The Enemies of the Plant.— The Golunda.— The Coffee Bug.— The Coffee Moth. 

 — Cacao, or Chocolate: Its Culture and Preparation. — Coca: Description of the Plant. — Mode 

 of its Use. — Its Effects. — Indian superstitions connected with it. — Cinnamon: Known to the 

 Ancients. — Cinnamon in Ceylon. — Mode of Culture and Preparation. — General Account 

 of this Spice. — Nutmegs and Cloves. — Enormities of the Dutch Monopoly. — Pepper. — 

 Pimento. — Ginger, 559 



CHAPTER VIIL 



INSECTS. 



Multitude of Tropical Insects. — Beetles. — Dragon Flies. — Leaf Moths. — The Leaf Butterfly. — 

 Fire Flies. — Insect Plagues: Mosquitoes. — Chigoes, or Jiggers. — The Filaria Medinensis. — 

 The Bete Rouge.— Ticks.— Land-Leeches.— The Tsets6 Fly.— The Tsalt-Salya Locusts.— 

 Cockroaches. — Enemies of the Cockroach. — Useful Insects: The Silk- Worm. — The Cochineal 

 Insect. — The Gum-Lac Insect. — Edible and Ornamental Beetles, 681 



CHAPTER IX. 



ANTS — TERMITES — ANT-EATERS — SPIDERS — SCORPIONS. 



Ants: Vast Numbers of Ants in the Tropical World. — Pain caused by their Bites. — The Ponera 

 Clavata.— The Black Fire-Ant.— The Dimiya of Ceylon.— The Red Ant of Angola.— The 

 Vivagua of the West Indies. — The Umbrella Ant. — Household Plagues. — Troubles of Natu- 

 ralists. — The Ranger Ants. — The Bashikouay of Western Africa. — House-Building Ants. 

 — Slaveholding Ants. — Aphides, or Plant-Lice. — Insect Cow-Keepers. — Termites: Their 

 Ravages among Books and Furniture. — Their Citadels. — Domestic Economy. — Defensive 

 Warfare. — American Termites. — The Enemies of the Termites. — How to Catch, Cook, and 

 Eat them. — The Marching Termite. — Ant-Eaters : The Great Ant-Bear. — His Mode of 

 Hunting. — Mode of Defense. — Anatomical Structure. — Lesser Ant-Bears. — Manides and 

 Pangolins. — The Aard-Vark. — Armadillos. — The Porcupine Ant-Eater. — Spiders: Their 

 Pliysical Structure. — Their Webs. — Means of Protection. — Mode of Catching their Prey. — 

 Maternal Instinct. — Their Enemies. — Uses of Spiders. — Scorpions: Their Aspects and 

 Habits.— Their Venom, 694 



CHAPTER X. 



SERPENTS — LIZARDS — FROGS AND TOADS. 



Serpents: Rarity of Venomous Serpents. — Habits and External Characteristics of Serpents.— 

 The Labarri. — The Trigonocephalus. — Antidotes to the Poison of Serpents.— Sucking out 



