k of an old tree,
and at others over a strong stake. The vines commence bearing the
third year, and continue to do so for a dozen or more, when they
are rooted up, new ones having been previously planted to take their
places.

We next called at two gambier plantations, both owned and conducted by
Chinamen who came to the island a few years before as common coolies.
The gambier (_Funis uncatis_) was formerly called terra japonica, from
being supposed to be an earth and to come from Japan. It is grown
on sandy soil or dry hills, and requires very little labor in
cultivation. It is a slender-stemmed, vine-like shrub with oval-shaped
leaves and pale purplish flowers in clusters. The seeds germinate in
forty days, and the seedlings are transplanted when about nine inches
high. When full grown they reach a height of ten feet or more, and
after the first year the leaves and branches are regularly gathered
and prepared for the market. Men and boys were engaged in plucking
the leaves and conveying them, in mat-bags suspended on each end of a
bamboo staff, to the boiling-ground. Here they were boiled until the
water was evaporated, and the inspissated juice deposited, which we
afterward saw drying in little squares. It is a powerful astringent,
having one-tenth more tannin than any other substance known. It is
used by the natives as a dye, also as a salve for wounds and for
chewing with betel-nut and tobacco, besides being largely exported
to Europe for tanning leather and for dyeing. All through the gambier
plantations, and in every department of the labor of preparing it
for the boiler, I observed that not a female was to be seen, and on
inquiring the reason was gravely told that gambier plants would not
flourish if touched by a woman! "Sensitive plants" indeed, so readily
to discern the difference between the handling of the two sexes!

Our next call was at a coffee plantation, where we saw sixty thousand
young and healthy coffee trees, and two-thirds of them in a bearing
condition, yielding in the aggregate not less than fifty thousand
pounds of dry coffee per annum. The trees are beautifully formed, and
rise naturally to the height of sixteen feet or more, but when under
culture are kept at five or six feet for the convenience of collecting
the ripe fruit. They are planted in rows, the leaves grow opposite
each other, and many sessile flowers are produced at their insertion.
The blossoms are pure white, and when the plants