LIMB  JUICE. 
451 
have  found  a  congenial  habitat  in  Montserrat„  In  the  autobios;- 
raphy  of  a  negro,  who  obtained  his  freedom  about  the  year  1750, 
he  mentions  his  first  profitable  adventure,  as  consisting  in  trad- 
ing in  this  fruit  to  the  neighboring  islands.  The  tree,  however, 
has  never  been  made  an  object  of  extended  and  systematic 
cultivation  till  within  the  last  tAventy  years.  Its  form  is  that  of 
a  large  Lauristina  bush,  spreading  in  some  instances  over  the 
ground  for  twenty  to  thirty  feet ;  its  foliage  is  like  that  of  the 
myrtle,  but  with  leaves  of  brighter  green.  It  is  armed  with 
sharp  thorns,  making  it  often  difficult  to  gather  the  fruit  from 
the  interior  of  the  tree.  The  blossom  is  smaller  than  that  of 
the  orange,  with  a  powerful  fragrance.  The  crop  is  principally 
gathered  in  the  months  commencing  with  July  and  ending  with 
February,  the  trees  often  displaying  at  the  same  time  the  blos- 
som and  the  ripe  limes,  with  the  green  fruit  in  all  its  interme- 
diate stages  of  growth. 
The  plantations  range  along  the  shore  for  about  two  miles, 
extending  in  one  direction  to  about  1500  feet  up  the  mountain 
steeps,  with  space  betv/een  the  trees  to  admit  of  the  pasturage 
of  cattle  among  them. 
During  the  season  of  crop,  the  fields  are  traversed  by  a  large 
company  of  young  negroes,  with  a  woman  superintending  them, 
who  gather  the  ripe  fruit  into  wide  open  baskets.  When  these 
are  all  filled,  they  are  taken  direct  to  the  presses  at  the  boiling 
houses,  and  the  large  company  of  "  little  people,"  as  they  are 
termed,  proceeding  with  quick  step  in  long  Indian  file,  with  the 
bright  yellow  fruit  on  their  heads  contrasting  with  their  dusky 
figures,  now  lost  among  the  lime  trees,  now  emerging  into  the 
open-  path,  presents  to  the  stranger  a  curious  and  novel  spectacle 
unique  in  its  kind. 
So  the  fruit,  on  its  reaching  the  works,  is  passed  through  a 
machine  driven  by  the  mountain  stream,  which  cuts  it  into  slices, 
when  it  is  transferred  to  the  presses  for  the  expression  of  the 
juice,  which  is  then  evaporated  to  about  the  consistency  of  honey 
for  the  manufacture  of  citric  acid. 
V/hen,  however,  it  has  to  be  shipped  as  fresh  juice,  the  fruit 
is  first  carefully  sorted,  and  the  unripe  or  over-ripe  limes  re- 
jected, and  when  transferred  to  the  presses,  only  abQut  two- 
