ON THE AMAZON AND RIO NEGRO. 211 
thirty-two pounds. I am told that far larger roots than any I have 
seen are sometimes found. 
On the following day I went, accompanied by an Indian, to see the 
Bauná plant, which grows pretty abundantly in the forest on the south 
side of the Janauarí. We found several plants, and I procured speci- 
mens of the stem and leaves, and dug down down to the roots, but 
there were no flowers or fruit. It is a Sipó, belonging I have little 
doubt to the Order Menispermacee, and very like one of the same Order 
I have gathered near the Barra in fruit, and am sending to Mr. Ben- | 
tham under No. 1227; the latter has however a slender branched root. 
I add here a description of the Bauná :— EY 
Root more or less obconical in form, rounded at the edges, 1—2 feet 
in diameter by about 10 inches in depth, terminating in a long slender 
tap-root beset with radicles; the skin yellowish, rugose, the internal 
substance white, compact. Stem twining, the thickness of the thumb, 
subcompressed, sparingly branched; bark angular, peeling off ; wood 
soft, distinctly zoned. Young branches and short petioles clad with 
ferruginous appressed pubescence. Leaves alternate, rather distant, 
7-8 inches long by 23-33 inches broad, oblong, subunequal-sided and . 
the midrib slightly curved, obliquely and subabruptly apiculate, smooth 
save minute sparse pubescence on veins, which are prominent beneath. 
This species gives the most tapioca, but there is another very similar 
one with leaves of equal dimensions, but equal-sided, with a few scat- 
tered minute hairs (some stellate) on upper surface, and beneath densely 
stellato-pubescent.—1 send specimens of this also. 
'The Bauná root is still more poisonous than that of the mandiocca, 
though quite tasteless when fresh, and repeated washings are required 
to render the farinha and tapioca wholesome. When the herdsman’s 
wife first tried the Bauná, she gave some of the grated root, with the 
juice merely squeezed off, as is done with the mandiocca, to the dogs, 
who devoured it greedily, but vomited the whole of the following night. - 
A family in the mouth of the Rio Negro, being less cautious, ate of the 
roasted (but unwashed) grated root, and the experiment nearly cost 
them their lives. When properly prepared, the farinha of Bauná is 
scarcely distinguishable from that of mandiocca ; for three days I lived 
solely upon Bauná and milk (with the exception of once eating a bit of 
broiled fish), and found it wholesome and nutritious. 
Soon after my return from the Janauari, I learnt that after my de- 
