The planters are obliged, to ship off their sugars as soon as they can procure shipping, because they would become liquid if attempted to be kept for a length of time. At present, not above two-thirds of the island are appropriated to the cultivation of sugar; but any person who comes to this island for the purpose of settling, whether from Spain or Portugal, or any other country, may procure from the royal intendant as much land as he is able to cultivate, and at a moderate price. The esculent root which is known in the Spanish islands by the name of _batata_, is here named ingame by the Negroes, and is their principal food, either boiled or roasted under the ashes. There are different kinds of this root produced on the island, but that which is known by the name of _igname cicorero_ is preferred by the merchant vessels, all of which purchase considerable quantities as a sea-stock for their homeward voyage, and the Negroes cultivate them largely for the express purpose of supplying the ships[11]. This island is distinguished by a high mountain in the middle, thickly covered by tall, straight, and verdant trees, and its summit is continually enveloped in clouds, whence water is diffused in numerous streams all over the island. A large shallow stream flows through the city of Pouoasan, supplying it with abundance of excellent water, which the inhabitants reckon of a medicinal quality, and allege that St Thomas would not be habitable if it were not for this river and its other numerous springs and rivulets. The native trees are chiefly barren, and though some olives, peaches, and almonds, were planted by the early settlers, which soon grew with great luxuriance, they never bore any fruit, and this has been the case with all stone fruits that have been tried. But the cocoa-nut palm, brought hither from Ethiopia, has thriven satisfactorily. Repeated attempts have been made to cultivate wheat, but always unsuccessfully, though tried at different seasons of the year; as the ear would never fill, but always ran up to straw and chaff only.