ity, and under the imperfect cultivation of the natives, yields
from eighty to a hundred fold, and sometimes more.

The heights are crowned with forests, while the low lands are jungle,
that is, "a region of many trees, but scattered; with much undergrowth;"
and the haunt of tigers and other wild animals.

The fruit-trees are numerous, and of names and kinds unknown in America.
There is found the mangosteen, with a fruit said by travellers to be the
most delicious in the world; the noble mango, growing to the height of
one hundred feet, and of vast diameter, and bearing as great a variety
of delicious fruit as the apple-tree does with us; the cocoa-nut, whose
fruit we are acquainted with, and whose husk is formed into excellent
cordage; the plantain, that invaluable blessing to the natives of the
torrid zone, as it supplies them bread without much labor; a
circumstance of importance in countries where hard labor is oppressive
by reason of heat; the splendid tamarind, with wide-spreading limbs, and
a dense foliage of vivid green, among which appear clusters of beautiful
yellow flowers, delicately veined with red, and the long shining pods
which contain the fruit; the custard-apple, with its pulpy fruit
contained in a husk resembling the pineapple in shape; and the curious
palmyra, whose leaves furnish the natives with paper, while its trunk
yields a liquor much prized by them as drink, and capable of being
boiled down into sugar, like the juice of our maple.

Hundreds of other trees might be named, many valuable for their fruit,
others for their timber, and some for both. Most of the trees are
evergreen, that is, few of them shed their leaves annually and at once;
but a constant succession of leaves makes the forest always verdant.

Besides the fruits which grow upon trees, there is a variety of others
such as berries, tomatoes, pineapples, &c.; and among roots are found
the ginger, licorice, arrow-root, sweet-potatoe, Irish potatoe,
asparagus, ground-nut, &c. The country abounds in flowers of most
splendid colors, but generally deficient in fragrance; though some have
a fine perfume.

The favorite food of the country being rice, this is, of course, the
grain most extensively cultivated. There are no _farms_ as with us;
cultivators of the soil always reside in villages, for mutual protection
against wild beasts and robbers. Each family cultivates a patch of the
neighboring jungle, and brings the produce into the vill