Rice forms the chief food of the laboring classes, and this grows, not
on the wet lowlands, as in our country, but on the mountain sides.

Bananas and plantains are two of the important food products. Next to
these, the yam and the sweet potato form the diet of the natives.

Among the fruit trees we find cocoanut palms, tamarinds, prickly pears,
guavas, mangoes, bananas, oranges, limes, cacao (or cocao) trees and
lemons.

Among the spices found here are the pimento, or allspice, nutmeg, clove,
pepper, mace, cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla.

The hills are covered with forests, which, yield valuable timber and dye
woods. Among these are mahogany, cedar, ebony, and lignum-vitae trees.
Logwood and other dye materials are common.

Many varieties of the palm flourish here,--the cocoanut palm producing
fruit in greater abundance than in any other country of the West Indies.

THE COCOA PALM.

The most abundant cocoanut groves in the world are said to be found on
Puerto Rico and the other islands of the Antilles. This tree usually
grows near the coast, for it loves the salt water; but it is sometimes
found on the hill slopes a short distance inland.

"The tree grows to a height of from sixty to eighty feet, lives a
hundred years, bears a hundred nuts each year, and is said to have a