Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/394



POD with a diameter of from five to six inches, in a thick, hard woody outer covering, contains the so-called Brazil nut of commerce, from twenty to twenty-four of these seeds being closely packed in one shell. On board the vessels the greatest care is taken of the nuts. They are turned over daily and kept supplied with a constant current of fresh air. Twenty-four hours of stormy weather in which the ventilators have to be closed is sufficient to ruin an entire cargo. Every precaution is taken to keep the atmosphere "comfortable," for the sensitive nut feels the slightest change of temperature.

As they begin to ripen the pods fall and are gathered by the natives, who, cutting the outer shell with a machete, collect the nuts and carry them in baskets to the rivers on which they are transported by canoe, launch, or river steamers, to the nearest port of call for ocean steamers on the Amazon River.