to C. Pourcroy. ? 



known to you. We difcovered it in a place where there is 

 no hevea, in the marfhes of the mountain of Javita, lat. i 5', 

 which arc famous on account of the terrible ferpents, of the 

 boa kind, found in them. 



Among the Pormifano and Paragini Indians we faw mu- 

 fical inftruments made of the caoutchouc, and the inha- 

 bitants told us they found it in the earth. The dapitche or 

 zapir is. really a fpongy white mafs found under the roots of 

 two trees, which appeared to us of a new genus, the jacio and 

 the curvana, and of which we mall one day give a defcription. 

 The juice of thefe trees is a very aqueous milk, but it appears 

 that it is a malady in thefe trees to lofe the juice by the roots^ 

 This di (charge caufes the tree to perifli, and the milk coagu- 

 lates in the moift earth, where it is preferved from the con- 

 tact of the air. I fend you the dapitche itfelf, and a mafs of 

 caoutchouc made from it, merely by expofing it to heat or 

 diffolving it over the fire. This production, and the milk of 

 the cow, in your hands, will ferve to throw new light on this 

 Jubilance, fo curious in a phytiological point of view. 



The lecbe de pindare, which is the dried milk of a pindar- 

 tree, is a natural white varnifh. The Indians cover their 

 veflels and tacuma with this milk when it is frefh. It dries 

 fpeedily, and forms a very beautiful varnifh ; but, unfortu- 

 nately, it becomes yellow when dried in a large mafs 5 and 

 it is in this ftate that I fend it to you. 



In regard to the earth of the Otomaquas, I muft obferve 

 that this nation, fo hideous by the paintings which disfigure 

 their bodies, when the Orenoquo is very high, and they can 

 find no tortoifes, for three months eat fcarcely any thing but 

 a kind of fat earth. There are fome of them who eat a 

 pound and a half of it per day. Some of the monks afTert 

 that they mix with it the fat of the tails of crocodiles : but 

 this is falfe. We found among the Otomaquas flores of the 

 pure earth which they eat : they give it no other preparation 

 than that of burning it flightly, and rendering it moifl. It 

 appears to me aftonifhing that people can be robuft and eat 

 a pound and a half of earth daily, while we find that earth, 

 produces a very pernicious effect among children. My own 

 experiments on earths and their properties, however, give 

 me reafon to fufpect that they may be nourifhingj that is to 

 fay, that they may act by affinities. 



I add for the mufaeum, becaufe it has fallen into my hands, 

 the fmoking inftrument of the Otomaquas, and a fhirt of the 

 Piroas, a neighbouring nation k This fmoking inftrument is 

 none of the fmalleft, as you will fee. It is a kind of plate, 



A 4 on 



