and beans seek clay soils; the
northern German knows that rye alone and the potato are best adapted for
the blowing sands of that country; the Chinese peasant, that the warm
sloping banks of light land are fitted for the tea plant, and stiff,
wet, impervious flooded clays for his rice. Even the slaves in the
Southern States were aware that open alluvial lands were best suited to
cotton; and the degraded slaves of Pernambuco know that the cocoa grows
only on the sandy soils of the coast, just the same as in west Africa
the oil palms flourish on the moist sea sand that skirts the shore, and
the mangroves where muddy shallows are daily deserted by the retiring
tide."

"Some time ago you stated in one of our talks that soil was the
necessary thing to select in order to propagate, or make good fruit and
grain out of the poor or wild kind. Were all our vegetables and grains
originally wild?"

"Originally nothing in the way of fruit, flower, grain or garden
vegetables was anything but wild and unproductive, or bitter, tasteless
or unprofitable. Chemical changes are made in the plant by the soil in
which it grows, because it is from the soil that it gets its food. The
large and juicy carrot found at home is nothing but the woody spindle of
the wild carrot, and I have found several species of it here. Cabbages,
cauliflowers, Brussels sprouts and a host of other like vegetables were,
in their natural state, poor, woody, bitter stems, and had useless
roots. As I have already stated, the wild potato, which we are now
cultivating, has, in its original state, a bitter root, as you have
discovered."

CHAPTER II

WORKING ON THE NEW BOAT

Early the following morning Harry sprang out of bed and hurriedly
shouted: "What did we do with the lifeboat in South River? Do you
remember whether we secured it when Angel came up and let us know about
the team?"

The Professor and George were up in an instant. George was the first to
answer. "I left it the moment Angel came up."

"I cannot remember," said the Professor, slowly, "but it seems to me,
now that I think of it, we left it on the banks, and it wouldn't do to
leave it there. You must go for it at once, and bring it down to the
bay, even though you cannot bring it around the cliffs."

A hurried breakfast was prepared and the boys started off at an eager
pace for the river. They went directly southwest, aiming to strike the
river near the falls, and after passing over fami