"What do you mean?" asked Harry.
"I don't think there are any caves in this section," he answered. "But we might as well investigate farther to the right, and see what the land looks like."
"Aren't those coffee trees?" said George, in great eagerness, as he bounded forwardly.
There, not a hundred feet away, were the beautiful trees with white clusters all over them. Thousands of these trees were in sight.
"I believe we have struck a coffee plantation," exclaimed Harry.
John did not answer, but went up to one of the trees and carefully examined it. "No, these trees have grown wild, and no one has ever gathered the berries."
"But what an opportunity there would be here for gathering coffee! Too bad Blakely isn't here," said George.
"We never saw anything like it on Wonder Island," suggested Harry. "Now, why is it that co[p. 74]coa will grow in wonderful profusion on one island, and none on the next, and the other island will have bananas and the other not?"
"The explanation of that has been the means of bringing out a wonderful study, that is explained by the nature of the soil itself. In every country certain sections will spontaneously produce product alike, in almost every essential quality. Thus, flax, for instance, is found, identical in its character, in Kamscatska, and in Minnesota; in the Siberian wilds and in Central America; on the heights of the Himalayas, and in the lowest plains of South America."
"But how do you explain the similarity? They must have come from seed, and how did the seeds get from place to place, when there were no ships to carry them?"