336 — ' 



MK. SPRUCE S VOYAGE 



come in for candle-making. The Venezuelans make a flambeau, which 



they call mechon^ of the resin of various species of Icica^ poured when 



melted into the decayed stem of the blowing-cane Palm, from which the 



soft interior has fallen away, or into a bamboo. It emits rather too 



much smoke (as Mr. Wilson remarks of resins) ; but the odour is very 

 agreeable. 



To come now to the question of the possibility of collecting these 

 oils ; — 1, in such quantity as to admit of their properties being tested ; 

 and 2, in such larger quantities as would be required for making them 

 articles of commerce. — Few as have been my contributions to your 

 Museum, they have cost me no little trouble and time to obtain them. 

 Everything here must be paid for beforehand. If I require Indians to 

 row my boat, I must prepay them for the voyage ; and as they are con- 

 stantly needing something or other during the voyage, they are sure to 

 owe as mucli at its close as they did at its commencement. If a trader 

 wishes to get together a cargo of sarsaparilla, or any other product of 

 the country, he must start up one of the rivers with a cargo of goods, 

 which he distributes as he goes along to all the Indians who are dis- 

 posed to work, marking the time of his returning to the same spot to re- 

 ceive payment, at three months, or six months, or perhaps twelve months. 

 When he comes again, he perhaps spends two or three months in seek- 

 ing up his cargo — beating up the Indians at their sitios— dragging his 

 boat up cataracts, and threading wearisome forest-tracts; and if, after 

 all this, he succeeds in getting together half the quantity owing to him, 

 he considers his success extraordinary. He must of course go the fol- 

 lowing year to the same place, and, without a further advance of goods, 

 he will not receive a single stick of what was left owing to him. Thus 

 it has happened, that many persons who have come up the llio Negro 

 with a cargo of goods, intending to purchase " generos " of the country 

 and return laden with them, have found it necessary to leave their goods 

 and return empty-handed ; while in the following year they come again 

 to collect a modicum of their debt, and leave as much more on credit. 

 They have thus no alternative but to go on year by year to the end of 

 their days, and never possess a farthing they can call tteir own, their 

 original cargo having been furnished on credit, by some merchant in 

 Para or the Barra, Such is trading with Indians ; and I leave you to 

 imagme, besides, the many contingencies which may occur, all against 

 the unfortunate trader. Indians die, like other men, and far oftener 



