Note Note 24 — APPENDIX III.

The soil of the island is in general light and sandy towards the coast, but a little inland it is found to be a rich black mould, seemingly composed of decayed vegetation, and the numerous springs and periodical rains, with the excellent shelter afforded by the cocoa-nut trees, which everywhere cover the island, all conspire to render it extremely fruitful. Nothing can exceed the profusion of fruits abounding in every quarter, all of them excellent. Pine-apples of the most delicious sort are growing everywhere wild, and heaps of oranges, guavas, &c., for want of consumers, are left to rot on the ground which produced them. The following are the principal fruits and vegetable productions of the island, viz.: pine-apples, guavas, mangoes, lemons, limes, oranges, plantains, bananas, pomegranates (a few imported by the Arabs), cocoa-nuts, and many others, sugar-canes (Note 24), pumpkins, onions, sweet potatoes, and the root of a plant which is called by the natives mahogo (the Farina de pás[129] of the Portuguese).