66 MR. SPRUCE'S BOTANICAL EXCURSION 
the forest-trees, of which new ones burst into flower every day, and 1 
have no doubt this is the case all the year round, although the rainy 
season may be, as they say, the best season for them. Near the beach 
the trees were lower and more branched than the same species in the 
dense forest, where, besides, it is only such as are fortunate enough to 
elevate their heads above their fellows that bear flowers and fruit, 
while on the beach they flower and fruit profusely. The beginning of 
summer is, however, more especially the season of flowers,—the end of 
summer and the beginning of winter, that of fruits. During our stay 
at Caripi, Mr. Campbell’s men were employed in cutting down trees to 
enlarge the open space around the house, and I gave them instructions | 
to let me know whenever "they cut down one in flower. Occasionally, 
too, I induced them to go a little out of their way to cut down à tree 
in flower or fruit, and I thus secured good specimens of many interest- 
ing trees, including the Ucú-uba, or oil-tree (Myristica sebifera, Sw.) ; 
the Umiri (Humirium, sp.), whose bark is used as a perfume; the 
Muruni (one of the Malpighiacez), the bark of which excels oak-bark 
for tanning, the nani, and many others. My principal excursion 
from Caripi was to an Indian settlement in the heart of the forest, 
about five miles from Mr. Campbell’s house, where the manufacture 
of the Caraipé, or fire-proof pottery (a branch of art still confined to 
the Indians), is carried on. Our journey was certainly an extraordinary 
one :—along hunters’ tracks, which none but an Indian could have 
found, over fallen trees, and occasionally across an igaripé, the only 
means of crossing being by a single trunk of a tree, which I and my 
- companion were glad to traverse à cheval, much to the amusement of 
our guides, who tripped across with their bare feet in security. After 
witnessing the process of making the pottery, an old Indian accom- 
panied us about two miles further into the forest, to see the Caraipé- 
tree growing, and, if possible, to procure specimens of it,—which we 
succeeded in doing, though unfortunately neither flower nor fruit were 
visible. I visited, also, the Mandiocca grounds of these Indians ; and 
a woman engaged to procure for me cuttings of every variety they 
cultivated. When these came, she was unable to say to which of the 
eight varieties each cutting belonged, but she gave me leaves of each 
variety separately, and I wrote down the names from her mouth : these, 
she said, would distinguish the varieties when they came into leaf; 1 
: have therefore dried them, and send them along with the cuttings, and 
