Continuing our journey, we passed several negroes conveying their produce, consisting of fruit, vegetables, orchilla weed, &c. to the town for sale, upon asses, with panniers made from bullocks’ hides. The animals seemed in excellent condition, at which we were not a little surprised, from what we had seen of the sterility of the soil. A few cattle were also seen wandering over the plains, where barely a speck of verdure tinged the barren volcanic rocks, still the animals were sleek, and in tolerable condition; we therefore came to the conclusion that they were turned out to feed, or, what was much more likely, to view the country and fast during the day, and driven home to feed at night. We pursued our dreary path, occasionally passing a few negro huts, and refreshing ourselves with some delicious goats’ milk. As we came upon the fertile portion of this valley, the change of scene was certainly most agreeable; the brown-parched soil which we had been so long previously alone regarding, now gave place to the verdant plantations of sugar-cane, manioc, and various European and tropical esculent vegetables, which gave a rich and animated character to the scene. The plantations were also interspersed with a great variety of tropical fruit trees, such as orange, lemon, guava plantain, tamarind, custard apple, &c. The tamarind trees were stunted, compared with the luxuriant and elegant growth of those trees in India; they were, however, laden with ripe fruit, whose powerful acid soon set the teeth on edge of such of our party as were induced to partake of them. [Illustration] Several trees of the Boabab, or monkey bread-tree, (_Adansonia digitata_,) were now seen, and among them one was particularly conspicuous from its size, as also from a resemblance to the union of three trees. This tree was destitute of foliage, but that loss was compensated by the curious character it assumed, being covered with fruit pending from a long, twisted, spongy stalk, varying in length from one to two feet. This tree measured forty feet in circumference, and was about sixty feet high; the bark was smooth, and of a greyish colour; the termination of its larger branches is remarkable, from being abruptly rounded, and from these rounded extremities the smaller branches are given off, as may be seen in the accompanying drawing; this forms a very characteristic feature in the tree. The fruit, on the outer shell being broken, contained not the yellow pulp usually mentioned, but a white farinaceous substance enveloping the dark brown seeds, of an agreeable acidulated taste. This may proceed from the fruit being old. The fruit is of an oval form, usually six inches in length, and three or four in diameter; rough externally, and, when mature, of a brownish yellow colour; a dark red gum exuded from the outer part of the fruit.[8]