ON THE RIO NEGRO. 335 



San Carlos. When T have passed a long time without drinking it, 

 and recommence, I always find it slightly aperient, but this effect passes 

 off in two or three days. 



The Jupati {Rapliia tcedlgerd) is said to have a very oily fruit, and 

 I know that at Para flambeaux are made of the leaf-stalks by merely 

 stripping off the rind. I have never seen this Palm since leaving Para. 



Among oil-yielding Dicotyledons of equatorial America, I suppose 

 the AndiToha {Carapa Guianensis) holds the first place. Andiroba-oil 

 has the great advantage ^n a tropical climate) of being so bitter, that 

 neither ants nor any other insects will touch it. The tree is abundant 

 near Para, especially at the mouth of the Tocantins, and is met with all 

 the way up the Amazon. 



From the seeds of two trees, apparently undescribed, abundant on 

 the Alto E-io Negro, Orinoco, Casiquiare, Pacimoni, etc., the Indians 

 prepare a paste resembling cream-cheese in appearance and taste. 

 The seeds are first boiled, and then steeped for some days under water, 

 after which they are broken up by the hand. In the boiling a quantity 

 of oil is said to be collected, but T have never been able to get a sight 

 of it. These Indians are exceedingly shy in showing to a white man 

 the edibles, etc., whose use is peculiar to themselves, thinking that his 

 only object must be to ridicule them. I first saw one of these trees 

 (the CW^Mn, a EupJtorliacea, allied to the India-rubber tree, but with 

 simple leaves) near San Gabriel, above two years ago ; and though I have 

 since that time continually come upon it, it is only very lately that I 

 met 'With its flower and fruit on the Casiquiare, and still later that, on 

 the upper Pacimoni, I came upon some Indians eating Cunuri cheese 

 (if I may so call it). From them I obtained a small quantity, which I 

 wish to send you, but have at present nothing to put it in. For Cu- 

 nuri-oil I must still wait with patience ; it is said to be as bitter as 

 Andiroba-oil, but to afford an excellent light. The other tree, whose 

 products are quite similar to those of the Cunuri, is called Uacu. It is 

 a Leguminous tree, with pretty pink flowers of very curious stmcture, 

 and I sent Mr. Bentham two species of it from the Eio Uaupes. 



There are numerous other trees and palms of this region yielding oil, 

 and I have only particularized a few of those which are so abundant 

 that their oil might be procured in any quantity, were there only in- 

 dustrious hands to coUcct it. 



Of resins, also, there is no lack, but I doubt if any of them would 



