gnificently rich
appearance. Rows upon rows of yellow fruit look like lines of golden
apples. Most people are extravagantly fond of them; but for myself I
must say that, excepting the superb 'No. 11'--so named from being thus
numbered on the captured French ship--and one or two other rare kinds, I
concur with the late Prof. Adams, of Amherst, in thinking that a very
good mango might be made by steeping raw cotton in turpentine, and
sprinkling a little sugar over it.

Another fortuitous gift to Jamaica, so far as human intention is
concerned, was the invaluable donation of the Guinea grass. Toward a
century ago some African birds were brought as a present to a gentleman
in the west of the island. Some grass seeds had been brought along for
their feed; and when they reached their journey's end, the seeds were
thrown away. After a while it was noticed that the cattle were very
eager to reach the grass growing on a certain spot, and on examination
it was found that the seeds thrown away had come up as a grass of
remarkable succulence and nutritiousness. It was soon distributed, and
now it is spread over the island. You pass rich meadows of it on every
lowland estate; and it clothes hundreds of hills to their tops with its
yellowish green. I do not see what the island would do without it. The
pens or grazing farms in particular have been almost wholly created by
it.

Jamaica has, of course, the usual West Indian fruits, the orange, the
shaddock, the lime, the pineapple, the guava, the nispero, the banana,
the cocoanut, and many others not much known abroad. But the
lusciousness of tropical fruits compares ill with the thousand delicate
flavors which cultivation has extended through our temperate clime;
while, at the same time, steam makes nearly all the best fruits of the
West Indies familiar to our markets. The resident of New York or
Philadelphia, and still more of Baltimore has small occasion to wish
himself in the tropics for the sake of fruit.

The great staple of negro existence, and therefore the great staple of
existence to the immense majority of the inhabitants, is the yam. There
are some indigenous kinds; but the species most in use appear to have
been brought in by the imported African slaves. This solid edible dwarfs
our potatoes, a single root varying in weight from five to ten pounds,
and sometimes even reaching the weight of fifty pounds. They are of all
shapes, globular, finger shaped, and long; and the l