g ladies, with Frau Ursula, were able to accompany us. Our
road lay through a grove of palm-trees, and wound up a hill, till we
reached the plantations of young cacao-trees. They were covered with
long red cucumber-like fruit. The plants had been brought here from
Madagascar, where it was first discovered by the Spaniards. They are
great consumers of it in various forms. Chocolate comes from the
Spanish chocolate, which is composed of cacao pounded with Indian corn,
to which honey is sometimes added. The sugar-cane was also introduced,
as sugar assists in neutralising the bitter qualities of the cacao. I
need scarcely point out the difference between the cacao--often written
cocoa--plant and fruit, from which the now much used beverage is made,
and the lofty cocoa-nut palms with their well-known nuts full of juice.
In the woods we saw numbers of green parrots, which uttered their shrill
deafening screams as they darted to and fro through the thick foliage.

Proceeding again along the beach, my sister and Grace, feeling thirsty,
asked for a draught of water, but neither stream nor fountain was in
sight. When one of our attendants heard what was inquired for, "Stop,"
he said, "you shall have it." Directly afterwards, we saw him climb up
a cocoa-nut palm above our heads, whence he cut off some of the clusters
of large green fruit. Immediately descending, he struck off the end
with a hatchet, and presented each of us with a goblet of the freshest
and most sparkling water I ever tasted. We had before only found the
more mature fruit, after the liquid has assumed a milk-like appearance.

A short way on, we saw the hill-side covered with myrtle-like trees, and
found that they were plantations of clove-trees. The clove-tree belongs
to the order of myrtles. The trunks of the full-grown trees were about
twelve inches in diameter. Their topmost branches were from forty to
fifty feet from the ground. However, we found some very small ones,
fully loaded with fruit. The clove is the flower bud, and it grows in
clusters at the end of the twigs. Our guide told us that the annual
yield of a good tree is about four pounds and a half. When the buds are
young, they are nearly white; when more mature, they change to a light
green, and ultimately to a bright red. They are then picked by the
hand, or beaten off with bamboos, on cloths spread under the trees.
They are simply dried in the sun for use, when their colour changes