The wild varieties of the orange, both the bitter and the sour, although too isolated and scattered for commercial purposes, are often a godsend to the prospector in the forest covered mountains, since the juice of the sour orange mixed with a little water and sugar makes a very pleasant drink. The wild trees themselves, with their symmetrical trunks, dark glossy evergreen leaves, white, fragrant flowers, and deep golden red fruit, that hangs on the tree for months after maturity, furnish a very attractive sight to the traveler, as well as a safe indication of the fact that in Cuba the citrus fruit, if not indigenous to the soil, has found a natural home. CHAPTER XXI BANANAS, PINEAPPLES AND OTHER FRUITS The banana is of East Indian origin, but of an antiquity so great that man has no record of its appearance on earth as an edible fruit, nor can any variety of the plant be found today growing wild. The importance of the banana as a source of food for the human race in all warm countries of low altitude is probably equaled by no other plant, owing to the fact that a greater amount of nourishment can be secured from an acre of bananas than from any other product of the soil. The banana has accompanied man into all parts of the tropical world, and for the natives at least still remains the one unfailing staff of life. The bulb once placed in moist fertile earth will continue to propagate itself and to produce fruit indefinitely, even without care of any kind, although for commercial purposes it may be improved and its productiveness increased through selection and cultivation. Few if any plants that nature has given us can be utilized in so many ways as the banana. The fruit when green, and before the development of its saccharine matter takes place, consists largely of starch and gluten, furnishing a splendid substitute, either boiled or baked, for the potato. Cut into thin slices, and fried in hot oil or lard, it becomes quite as palatable as the Saratoga chips of the United States. When baked in an oven and mashed with butter or sauce, it is not a bad substitute for the potato, and far more nourishing. When sun-dried and finely ground, a splendid highly nutritious banana-flour is produced, that is not only pleasant to the taste, but according to the report of physicians far more easily digested and assimilated than is the flour of wheat or corn. From good banana flour, either bread, crackers, griddle cakes or fancy pastry may be made, that would be relished on any table.