for fresh meat.

Corn, tobacco, sugar, coffee, cotton and potatoes constitute the
principal crops.

There are no snakes, no beasts of prey, no noxious birds nor insects
in the island.

The trees and grass are always green.

Rats are the great foe of the crops.

The natives often live to be one hundred years old.

The most beautiful flower on the island is the ortegon, which has
purple blossoms a yard long.

Hurricanes are frequent on the north coast and very destructive.

Mosquitoes art the pest of the island.

Spanish is the language spoken, and education is but little esteemed.

Every man, no matter how poor, owns a horse and three or four
gamecocks.

The small planter is called "Xivaro." He is the proud possessor of
a sweet-heart, a gamecock, a horse, a hammock, a guitar and a large
supply of tobacco. He is quick tempered but not revengeful, and he is
proverbially lazy.