ON HENRiaUEZIA VEUTTCILLATA. 337 



hide themselves in the forest when the day of payment arrives, or shift 

 their quarters permanently. — The same mode must be followed in 

 everything, even in the procuring of eatables. If I need fish^ T must 

 first pay the fisherman, and perhaps lend him hook and line, in which 

 case some powerful fish is pretty certain to carry off the hook ; though 

 how it sliould come to be snugly deposited in a corner of the Indian's 

 matiri (bag) is not so easy of explanation. About three months ago 

 I bought, on the Casiquiare, a quantity of cahezones (a small turtle fre- 

 quent in some lagoons), intending them for provision during the winter ; 

 but they are to this day still swimming in Lake Vasiva, and are likely 

 so to remain, when I am far away from Venezuela, To those who are 

 fixed for life in one place, this state of things may not appear so into- 

 lerable ; but a traveller like me, who must from time to time remove his 

 abode to a considerable distance, notwithstanding he uses the utmost 

 caution, may expect to leave in every place he visits no small percen- 

 tage of his income in bad debts. 



I omitted to mention above, among oil-bearing trees, the Castanha 

 or Juvia {BertJioUetia excelsa), which affords a sweet-tasted oil in consi- 

 derable quantity. The tree is so abundant in some parts of the Amazon, 

 that I suppose its oil would be as easily obtained as that of the An- 

 diroba. 



/ 



from the Rio Negro^ in North 



Esa. 



This was one of the finest trees met with by Mr. Spruce, in his 

 voyage up the Rio Negro, in December, 1851. It was frequent in tlie 

 Gapd from above Barraroa to San Gabriel do Cachoeiras, and, as sus- 

 pected by Mr. Spruce, forms an entirely new and remarkable genus of 

 BignoniaceiS. It is therefore with much pleasure that I can accede to 

 his wish that it should be dedicated in his name to Senhor Ilenriquez 

 Antonij, a native of Leghorn, but for more than thirty years settled at 

 the Barra do Eio Negro, where he has constantly rendered every assist- 

 ance to scientific and other travellers during that period. 



The evident affinities of this genus arc with Flatycarpum of Hum- 

 boldt and Bonpland, supposed to be identical with Sickingia of WIII- 

 denow. The five equal and perfect stamens, and the short broad fruit 



VOL. VI. 



2x 



