A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL 



But the plants fight for the best position rather than for the light; 

 the lianas fight for the best support, and the arboreal plants for 

 those positions on the boughs which will receive the greatest rainfall. 

 The tropical forest, like our own, is by no means the abode of 

 peace. 



The Brazilian trees grow to a great height. Quite a number of 

 species grow to a height of 150 feet and more. One such giant is 

 the Sumaiima, and the Piptadeniae, to which group the Angico 

 belongs, are equally lofty. The Australian Eucalyptus, of course, 

 grows even taller; the tallest tree known is a Eucalyptus, and its 

 height is 494 feet ; only a few feet lower than the spire of Cologne 

 Cathedral. 



It is obvious that the trunks of such forest giants must be very 

 strong, and so we find, among the thousands of Brazilian trees, 

 many that yield the most admirable timber. We realize this in the 

 houses, where the furniture is often beautiful in colour, and the 

 parquet-flooring consists of woods of diflferent shades. The wood of 

 the Brazilian trees may be put to the greatest variety of uses. 

 A Father of the Benedictine monastery at Olinda successfully 

 replaced the metal reeds of a harmonium by wooden reeds, and the 

 wood gave a softer tone than the metal. 



Brazil has actually derived its name from a valuable wood. 

 The name "Brazil-wood" was originally given to the wood of a tree 

 of the East Indies. When the discoverers of Brazil found trees there 

 also which yielded a dye-wood of a reddish-yellow colour they 

 named the whole coast aftei this article of export, just as certain 

 stretches of the African shore were called the Gold Coast, the Ivory 

 Coast, the Slave Coast. There are several trees among the Legu- 

 minosae which yield Brazil-wood or Pernambuco-wood, but the 

 most important of these was known of old to the natives, who called 

 it Ibira-pitanza, by reason of its red wood. This fine tree has feathery 

 foliage and thorns on the trunk and shoots. Brazil-wood is employed 

 not only for constructive purposes, but also as a dye-stuff. 



The Jacaranda is another tree which yields a wood of a fine 

 dark colour, and various trees among the Leguminosae and Big- 

 noniaceae bear this name. There are iron, violet, rose and white 

 Jacarandas, and the wood of many species is marbled with brown 

 or violet. Jacaranda-wood is known also as "palisander-wood," a 

 corruption o{ Pau santo, "holy wood." 

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