Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/345

 THE AMAZON VALLEY. 305

attention from their curious bean-like fruits, often of extra- ordinary size or length. Some of the Ingas, and allied genera, have pods a yard long, and very slender ; while others are short, and three or four inches wide. There are some curious fruits of this family, which grow on a stalk three to five feet long and very slender, appearing as if some one had suspended a number of pods from the branches by long strings.

The flowers of this family are among the most brilliant and conspicuous ; and their often finely-cut pinnate foliage has a very elegant appearance.

The following is a list of the principal vegetable productions of commercial value in the Amazon forests :—

India-rubber, from the sap of the SipJionia elastica.

Brazil-nuts, the seeds of the Bertholletia excelsa.

Salsaparilha, the roots of Smilax syphilitica.

Tonquin-beans, the seeds of Dipteryx odorata.

Puxiri, the fruit of Nectandrum Puchury.

Sassafras oil, tree not known.

Andiroba oil, from the fruit of an unknown tree.

Crajuru, a red colour prepared from the leaves of Bignonia Chica.

Pitch — exudes from a forest tree.

Cacao, the seeds of Theobroma Cacao and other species.

Cravo, from an unknown tree.

Canella, the bark of Canella alba.

Vanilla, the fruits of various species of Vanilla.

Guarana, a preparation from a fruit, grated in water, to form an agreeable and medicinal drink.

Piassaba, the fibres from the petioles of a palm, Leo- poldi?iia n. s.

Balsam Capivi, from the Copaifera officinalis.

Silk cotton, from various species of Bombax.

In many parts of my Journal, I have expressed an opinion ' that travellers have exaggerated the beauty and brilliancy of tropical vegetation, and on a calm review of all I have seen in the districts I have visited, I must repeat it.

There is a grandeur and solemnity in the tropical forest, but little of beauty or brilliancy of colour. The huge buttress trees, the fissured trunks, the extraordinary air roots, the

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