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26   St. Lucia 26.
The word "clearing" is quite misleading here. The natives cut down all the trees, burn a few of them but leave most lying in great confusion where they fell. There are interspersed with piles of brush and patches of red clay. Cutting ones way through the virgin forest is nothing compared to crossing these places, - especially when the logs are wet and slippery.
It took us an hour to progress across less than half a mile of this, and it was the hardest going of the trip. We finally found the "owner" of the clearing, who showed us his track up to the main one on top the ridge.
These clearings are made by the natives to get a little land to grow yams and bananas. By the end of the second rainy season practically all the soil has been washed off, and the land is abandoned. It never returns to jungle and the trees would not come back for many generations. There is no means of preserving this country from such wanton and useless destruction, though there is beginning to be some agitation about it. Even the timber that is cut is wasted. It is good usable wood, but is left to rot there.
Just as we were starting up the trail I found a fungus with Staphs. All day we passed
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fungus, but it was always the fleshy kind - Polypore, not the gilled kind. The latter is the only one that yields any Staphs around here.
[[underlined]] Station 217. [[/underlined]]
1/4 mile south of Dame Milette (and sta. 208) at about the same elevation (750 feet). In fungus found 75 Staphs, all the red Aleocharinae.
Mr. Box had considerable to say about the destruction of the forests and the general intelligence of the negroes. He was extra hard on the boys too, and I suspect he was more tired than he admitted (which wouldn't have been hard, because he admitted to no fatigue at all!). We followed down the main track on the ridge and then turned off to the left, down into the valley of the Milette River. This was to stop at a native plantation and get some coconuts to drink. Box seemed to think that 1¢ each was more than they were worth, but we took them. I guess he thought hospitality should have allowed the weary wayfarer a free drink! I drank almost a whole one, the first time I've been able to since I was in Panama. We then proceeded down the trail to the road, and down to the car. Here we got some bananas from a native. The boys ate at least half a dozen apiece!