Page:Tales in Political Economy by Millicent Garrett Fawcett.djvu/41

 declined, because the difficulty of obtaining it became less. This decline in value was a very good thing for the islanders, because it showed that they were able to provide themselves with a staple of food at a smaller cost of labour and self-denial.

When the trade of wheat-growing was firmly established on the island a very important discovery was made by some of the sailors, who had contrived to manufacture a boat for fishing purposes. In the course of one of their fishing expeditions they landed on an adjacent island, and as they had to wait there some time before leaving, for the turn of the tide, they began to look about them to see if they could find anything worth taking home. They were struck by the appearance of some trees which grew in this island in great numbers, but which they had never seen in their own island. These trees were from fifteen to twenty feet high, with immense leaves of a beautiful shining green. Some of the leaves were ten feet long and three feet broad; in the midst of these leaves rose large stems bearing clusters of fruit.