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 hundred uses for man."
The trees bear such heavy burdens of fruit that it seems impossible that so slender a trunk could hold such a weight of fruit in the air. The fruit is expensive when it comes to us, because of the difficulty in climbing the trees, gathering the nuts, and removing from them the heavy fibrous husks.
[Illustration: GATHERING COCOANUTS.]
Here is a negro gathering cocoanuts. Let us watch him. He climbs the tall tree, dragging a rope after him. About his waist is a belt in which is thrust a machete.