174 t BOTANICAL OBJECTS COMMUNICATED 
diarrhea, it is taken without sugar. I tried it for some time when 
suffering under this malady, and I believe it quite powerless. 
Guaraná is a staple article of trade between Santarem and Cuyabá. 
Merchants who come here with cargoes of gold and precious stones, 
return laden partly with Guarana, which they buy at a milrei per lb., 
and sell in Cuyabá for six or eight milreis! The voyage however from 
Santarem to Cuyabá costs them five or six months, and the numerous 
Cachoeiras in the Tapajoz render it exceedingly perilous. In Cayaba, 
as I am informed by merchants of the place whom I have met here, 
Guarana is retailed chiefly in the tabernas, and carefully weighed to a 
grain. To these places the thirsty miners resort in the intervals of 
their toil, and call for a * copo de Guaraná," just as they would for one 
of “ limonada ” or of “ agoa doce.” 
As to the name, I have uniformly heard it and seen it written ** Pío 
de Guarana,” or a stick of Guaraná, in the same sense as “ pao de 
laeré,” a stick of sealing-wax, and many other similar terms; never have 
I keane it * Pão de Guarana,” or Guaraná bread. When Captain. 
Hislop arrived at Santarem, thirty-four years ago, it was made up into 
rolls of eighteen inches or more long, and therefore better deserved the 
name of “pao,” than now, when the rolls weigh from half a pound to 
a pound, and rarely exceed in length the one I send. Martius says, 
“In panes fusci coloris ellipticos vel globosos formatum." I have 
never seen them “globose,” but there can be no doubt of the correct- 
ness of his statement, and therefore “ panes," as a general term, is ap- 
plicable enough. Probably misinterpreting Martius’s account, Lindley 
(Veg. Kingd. p. 384) speaks of “ Guaraná bread, a food prepared by 
the Brazilian savages.” 
The essential principle of this diiit is said to be identical with 
Theine and Caffeine, which I can well believe, for the immoderate use 
of Guaraná relaxes the stomach and causes sleeplessness; precisely the 
effect which results from the abuse of tea and coffee. 
40. Bactris interrupta, MSS. n. sp. Stem 4-5 feet, weak, prickly- 
Remarkable for the fronds having a space in the middle destitute of 
pinnæ, and for the floccose rachis. Santarem, dense shady forest, April 
1850. 
.41. Two entire fruits of the Castanha (Bertholletia excelsa), from 
Alemquer on the north shore of the Amazon. 
42, Fibre of the Curaná (Bromelia sp.), and piece of rope made 
