334 ME. spruce's voyage 



yield oil in greater or less quantity. You are aware tliat very pleasant 

 drinks are prepared here by triturating the fruit of the Assai and other 

 Palms in water, and adding a small quantity of sugar and farinlia. The 

 Portuguese give the name of " vinho " to these drints, though totally 

 different from the palm-wine prepared in other parts of tropical America 

 (and I believe also of Asia). The Indian name is "yukisse," which is 

 a general name for all sorts of vegetable juices, and also for the gravy 

 of animal substances. All the Palm drinks are exceedingly nutritive, 

 and several are slightly purgative, owing, no doubt, to the oil they con- 

 tain. By allowing the yukisse to stand a short time in a cuya, the oil 

 rises to the top, and an idea is obtained of the quantity yielded by any 

 particular palm-fruit. Of all that I have seen, the Caiatte {Mais me- 

 lanococca, an actual congener of the African Palm) yields oil in the 

 greatest quantity, and in appearance exactly like the oil of E, Guhie- 

 ensis; but I have never heard of its being collected, and put to any use. 

 The Caiaue palm is abundant all about the mouths of the Kio Negro 

 and Madeira, but I have not seen or heard of it anywhere up the Eio 

 Negro. I sent you a spadix with fruit from the Barra do Kio Negro. 

 Why it was called " melanococca " is hard to say, for the fruit is of 

 a bright vermilion colour. Perhaps Gsertner had only the nut. 



After the Caiaue, as to quantity of oil, come the various species of 

 (Enocarptis {(E. Bacaha, Batana, disticlia, etc.). The oil of these is ap- 

 parently of finer quality than that of Caiaue; it is colourless and sweet- 

 tasted, and not only excellent for lamps, but for cooking. The shop- 

 keepers of Para buy Patana-oil of the Indians, and mix it in equal 

 proportions with olive-oil, retailing the whole as " olive-oil," from which, 

 indeed, even the best judges can scarcely distinguish it. I can bear tes- 

 timony that, for frying fish, oil of Baccaba is equal either to olive-oil or 

 butter. The various species of (Enocarj^m abound on the Amazon and 

 Orinoco, and on their tributaries. I have lately seen the Patana in the 

 greatest plenty throughout the Casiquiare, Alto Orinoco, and Cunucu- 

 numa. Near the Barra it is frequent, but less so than the Bacaba. 

 The forests opposite San Carlos, extending from the Kio Negro to the 

 Xie, are literally sown with Patana. The fruit is in season nearly all 

 the year round. We are just now beginning to make use of it, and we 

 shall have it (in unlimited quantity, if there were always Indians to 

 climb the trees) all along until November. I am passionately fond of 

 Patana-yukisse, and it is the only thing I shall regret when I leave 



