Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/344

 304 VEGETATION OF

are collected together in small heaps, where they are opened with an axe, an operation that requires some practice and skill, and the triangular nuts are taken out and carried to the canoes in baskets. Other trees of the same family {Lecythidece) are very abundant, and are remarkable for their curious fruits, which have lids, and are shaped like pots or cups, whence they are called " pot-trees." Some of the smaller ones are called by the natives " cuyas de macaco," — monkeys' calabashes.

The next most important vegetable product of the Amazon district, is the Salsaparilha, the roots of Smilax syphilitica, and perhaps of other allied species. This plant appears to occur over the whole forest-district of the Amazon, from Venezuela to Bolivia, and from the Lower Amazon to Peru. It is not generally found near the great rivers, but far in the interior, on the banks of the small streams, and on dry rocky ground. It is principally dug up by the Indians, often by the most uncivilised tribes, and is the means of carrying on a consider- able trade with them.

The Brazilian nutmegs, produced by the JVectandrum Puchitry, grow in the country between the Rio Negro and Japura.

The Cumaru, or Tonquin-beans, are very abundant on the Upper Rio Negro, and are also found near Santarem on the Amazon.

A highly odoriferous bark, called by the Portuguese " Cravo de Maranhiio " (Cloves of Maranham), is produced by a small tree growing only on one or two small tributaries of the Rio Negro.

A peculiar transparent oil, with an odour of turpentine, called Sassafras by the Venezuelans, is abundantly obtained by tapping a tree, common on the Upper Rio Negro, whence it is exported to Barra, and used for mixing oil-colours. In the Lower Amazon, a bitter oil, called Andirdba, much used for lamps, is made from a forest fruit.

A whitish resin, with a strong camphorous smell, is pro- duced very abundantly in the Rio Negro and the Amazon, and is commonly used as pitch for the canoes and all the larger vessels of the country ; while the inner bark of young trees of the Bertholletia exce/sa, or Brazil-nut tree, is used instead of oakum for caulking.

Among the forest-trees of the Amazon, the Leguminosa are much the most abundant in species, and they also most attract