A TRIP TO THE INAGUAS. 
95 
tically all are found here. This flora is very uniform, the species 
being generally distributed throughout the islands, so that a col¬ 
lection of specimens made at any one point would include the 
greater part of the flora. At most every place we touched, how¬ 
ever, a few species would be found which had not been en¬ 
countered elsewhere, so that to have a complete representation of 
the flora would require a pretty thorough exploration of the 
islands. Much more of interest could be written in relation to 
this unique portion of the flora, but I wish to devote some space 
to the other formations of the islands. 
Turning now to the savannah formation, you have an extended 
grassy plain, dotted here and there with island-like masses of tim¬ 
ber, often twenty-five feet high, called coppices. It is in these 
coppices that the islanders secure their best timber from the ma¬ 
hogany trees, Swietenia Mahagoni, which form a large part of 
their growth. The grass which covers these savannahs, known 
to the people as “ savannah grass,” is Sporobolus Virginicus. 
Herds of wild horses and donkeys find here their main food supply. 
While on the subject of the savannah I wish to speak of the large 
salt lake whose western end impinges upon what is known as the 
Upper Savannah. This is a large body of salt water, with no 
visible inlet or outlet I was informed. It was not indicated at all 
upon the navigator’s chart I had with me. It is said to be eigh¬ 
teen miles long, about six miles wide, and five or six feet deep. 
On account of the indefinite information in my possession I have 
indicated the position of this lake on the accompanying map by a 
dotted line. It appears to be a portion of the savannah flooded, 
for the same coppices dot its surface as islands. 
Other smaller savannah-like areas are found scattered through 
the scrub. One of these was Cabbage Pond, about three miles 
south of Camfield Bay on the north shore of Great Inagua. Here 
the soil, a mixture of sand and loam, must have been of consider¬ 
able depth, for it supported a grove of palms, the trees fifteen or 
twenty feet high. This is said to be the same palm found in our 
southern states, Inodes Palmetto, and called there the “ cabbage 
palm.” On Inagua it is known as the “ pond thatch.” Its leaves 
are very durable and are used for thatching; they are said to last 
for twenty years. 
