Here Jack made a discovery which caused us all
very great joy. This was a tree of a remarkably beautiful appearance,
which Jack confidently declared to be the celebrated bread-fruit tree.
"Is it celebrated?" inquired Peterkin, with a look of great simplicity.
"It is," replied Jack.
"That's odd, now," rejoined Peterkin; "I never heard of it before."
"Then it's not so celebrated as I thought it was," returned Jack,
quietly squeezing Peterkin's hat over his eyes; "but listen, you
ignorant booby! and hear of it now."
Peterkin readjusted his hat, and was soon listening with as much
interest as myself, while Jack told us that this tree is one of the
most valuable in the islands of the south; that it bears two, sometimes
three, crops of fruit in the year; that the fruit is very like wheaten
bread in appearance, and that it constitutes the principal food of many
of the islanders.
"So," said Peterkin, "we seem to have everything ready prepared to our
hands in this wonderful island--lemonade ready bottled in nuts, and
loaf-bread growing on the trees!"
Peterkin, as usual, was jesting; nevertheless, it is a curious fact
that he spoke almost the literal truth.
"Moreover," continued Jack, "the bread-fruit tree affords a capital
gum, which serves the natives for pitching their canoes; the bark of
the young branches is made by them into cloth; and of the wood, which
is durable and of a good colour, they build their houses.
Pages:
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57