DOMINICA.
97
of the white residents ; and near the same spot also is a handsome tomb erected over the remains of a former attorney of the estate, at each end of which is a magninificent palmetto, or cabbage-tree, with trunks as straight and columnar as if chiselled out of marble. This is a much more beautiful palm than the cocoa nut tree, though at first sight they would usually be confounded by an European. The cabbage is the upper part of the trunk, which has a green appearance, and is of a pulpy, vegetable consistence. From the summit of this, branches out a graceful crown of gigantic leaves. The cabbage is described as very palatable, but unfor足 tunately the tree must be destroyed to obtain it. The manager kindly provided us with horses and mules to make a little excursion up the valley. Our^ path was just wide enough for the animals to pass, with the river below us on one side, and a wall of rock many hundred feet high on the other, sometimes so absolutely perpen足 dicular as to be free from vegetation, but usually cover足 ed with shrubs and creepers. One beautiful spot in this valley was marked by the tomb of an overseer of a neighbouring estate, who had died from fever produced by the fatigue of a three days' hunt of wild hogs in the woods. The day was so showery, that we were soon com足 pelled to return, but as far as we could see, all seemed to possess the same features of grandeur, and the same wild character of unsophisticated nature. Little of Dominica, except the river levels and the fertile sides of the ravines, has been brought into cultivation. Not a hundredth part of its resources has yet been drawn upon ; for the traces of man's dominion over it are slight indeed. Almost all tropical productions may be cultivated here, and many grow wild, as the cotton K