~The Song of the Plantain-Gatherers~ We gather and gather the plantains; Come gather them anyhow.

The same is said to happen to Scabiosa, or Devil's bit, and some other plants, as valerian and greater plantain; the new fibrous roots rising round the caudex above the old ones, the inferior end of the root becomes stumped, as if cut off, after the old fibres are decayed, and the caudex is drawn down into the earth by these new roots.

Mr. Wahlborn observes, that as wheat, rye, and many of the grasses, and plantain, lift up their anthers on long filments, and thus expose the enclosed fecundating dust to be washed away by the rains, a scarcity of corn is produced by wet summers; hence the necessity of a careful choice of seed wheat, as that, which had not received the dust of the anthers, will not grow, though it may appear well to the eye.

Another arrangement, not very common, is found in the Magnolia, the Holly, and the radical leaves of the common Plantain and Tobacco.

Among the important productions of these islands, I have mentioned hemp, although the article called Manila hemp must not be understood to be derived from the plant which produces the common hemp (Cannabis), being obtained from a species of plantain (Musa textilis), called in the Philippines "abacá."

The Indians called the low plantain "the white man's footstep"; and these shy creatures gradually disappear, the moment the red man gets beyond their hearing.

Taking leave of Mr. Barclay, we returned to the Plantain Garden River Valley, and called at the Golden Grove, one of the most splendid estates in that magnificent district.

his apprentices did quite well, and so did the apprentices generally, in the Plantain Garden River Valley.

In each of the houses to which we were admitted, there was one apartment fitted up in a very neat manner, with waxed floor, a good bedstead, and snow white coverings, a few good chairs, a mahogany sideboard, ornamented with dishes, decanters, etc. From Amity Hall, we drove to Manchioneal, a small village ten miles north of the Plantain Garden River Valley.

Large plats of the onion, of cocoa, plantain, banana, yam, potatoe, and other tropic vegetables, were scattered all around within five or six miles of a plantation.

A company of the first-gentlemen of that parish, consisting of the rector of the parish, the custos, the special magistrate, an attorney, and member of the assembly, etc., had mustered in imposing array, and proceeded to one of the large estates in the Plantain Garden River Valley, and there having called the apprentices together, made the following proposals to them respecting their free children, the rector acting as spokesman.

He told them that he was a Jamaica man named John Plantain, that he had been a pirate, but was tired of the trade, and had settled down on the spot.

This John Plantain was a man of some note in the piratical world.

Matthews' first idea was to seize him, but finding that John Plantain had a good number of armed natives with him, besides a Scotchman and a Dane, and that his castle had plenty of guns mounted, he decided to trade with him instead.

In spite of his notions as to piracy, John Plantain showed himself an honester man than Matthews.

He also gives the history of John Plantain, who finally made his way to Gheriah, and took service with Angria.

Plantain, John, ex-pirate, entertains Matthews.

Soon the coarser plantain, the "white man's footstep," shall take its place.

The pots are constantly replenished, until they are filled with a solid mass of salt; they are then removed bodily, packed in dry plantain-leaves, and sent to market on the backs of mules.

A break-neck path wound down to a little sandpit; and on the opposite side of the stream another path wound up, in like manner, to a narrow plateau, on which stood a single hut, with its surroundings of plantain-trees and maize-fields.

It is true, we find the ever-graceful palm, the orange, plantain, and other tropical fruit-trees; but the country is no longer loaded down with forests.

A government rancho, built under the shade of a couple of tall fruit-trees, stood in the middle of the savanna, and on its farther edge were the cane buildings of a cattle-hacienda, just visible through the wealth of plantain-trees by which they were surrounded, while the cattle themselves were dotted over the intervening space, cropping the young grass, which here looked brighter and fresher than in the valley below.

The victorious PALM, the Plantain "far spreading," and the Cypress pointing to heaven, are also emblems of the Virgin.

Various drinks, which the little natives cried about in a squeaking voice, enticed the unwary, in the form of plantain wine, "pombe," a liquor in great demand, "malofou," sweet beer, made from the fruit of the banana-tree and mead, a limpid mixture of honey and water fermented with malt.

Among the plants of the island the most important is a wild species of plantain or banana, afterwards found to range along the North-East coast and its islands as far as Cape York.