268 SKETCH OF THE VEGETATION OF 
(a tree botanically unknown), Cedro espinoso (a Sterculiacea), Caoba 
- (Swietenia Mahagoni, Linn.), Espavè (Anacardium Rhinocarpus, DC.), 
Guackapali (Schizolobium excelsum, Vogel), Guavito cansaboca (Pithe- 
colobium ligustrinum, Bth.), Guayacan (Tecoma flavescens, Mart.), Gua- 
zimo colorado (Lühea rufescens, St. Hil.), Laurel (Cordia Gerascanthus, 
Jacq.), Macano (Diphysa Carthagenensis, Jacq.), Maria (a Guttifera), 
_ Nance (Brysonema cotinifolia, H. B. et Kth.), Naranjo de monte (Swart- 
zia triphylla, Willd.), Nispero (Sapota Achras, Mill.), Peronil (a Papi- 
lionacea, n. 1673), Quira (Macherium Schomburgkii, Benth.), Roble 
(Tecoma pentaphylla, Jacq.), Terciopelo (Bixacearum gen. noy.), and 
Corot (Enterolobium Tünboiva, Mart.). From the Roble and Guaya- 
can the most durable wood is obtained: some beams of the latter are 
still to be seen among the ruins of the cathedral of Old Panama, where 
they have been exposed to the influence of the climate ever since the 
destruction of that city, a period of nearly 200 years. The Nazareno, 
a beautiful bluish fancy-wood, the produce of a scientifically unknown 
tree, would fetch a high price in Europe. The Quira, remarkable for 
its black and brown streaks, is the J/aka of commerce. The Corotà 
and Zspav? supply the natives with materials for constructing their 
canoes, and no better estimate can be formed of the magnitude of these 
giants of the forest, than by an inspection of the Port of Panama, 
where vessels of twelve tons burden, made of a single tree, are seen 
riding at anchor. 
Dyes are numerous : a yellow one is obtained from the wood of the 
- Macano (Diphysa Carthagenensis, Jacq.), a scarlet from the leaves of 
the Hojita de tennir (Bignonia? Chicha, H. et B.), a blue from the 
foliage of the dnnil silvestre (Indigofera Anil, Linn.), a violet from ihe 
fruit of the Jagua (Genipa Caruto, H. B. K.), a red from the pulp of 
the Bija or Achotte (Biza Orellana, Linn.), and a black from the seeds 
of the Ojo de venado (Mueuna urens, DC., and Mucuna altissima, DC.)- 
A brown colour might be extracted from the Clava, a Cyperacea, 
(n. 147), which abounds in the savanas, and produces on cotton and 
linen a stain very much like that caused by the rusting of an iron 
mail hence the vernacular name, Clava, a nail. The Indians of 
Southern Darien paint their faces with the colour obtained from the 
Biga Orellana, Linn., or, as they themselves term it, Bija. The scar- 
let dye, observed in the hammocks of Veraguas, is not given with the 
purple shell (Purpura patula, Lam.), as the people of Panamà assert, 
but with the leaves of the Bignonia Chicha. 
