BALSAMUM COPAIBA. 229 



to the Dutch establishments in Brazih each give an account of 

 the Oojxtiba and the method of obtaining its oleo-resiu. The former 

 states that the tree grows in Pernamhuco and the island of Maranhon, 

 whence the balsam is conveyed in abundance to Europe. 



The drug was formerly brought into European commerce by the 

 Portuguese, and used to be packed in earthen pots pointed at the lower 

 end; it often arrived in a very impure condition.^ In the London 



Pharmacopoeia of 1677, it was called Balsamnm Capivi, which is still 

 its most popular name. 



Secretion — Karsten states that he observed resinifcrous ducts, 

 frequently more than an inch in diameter, running througli the whole 

 stem. He is of the opinion that the cell-walls of the neighbouring 

 parenchyme are liquefied and transformed into the oleo-resin.^ We are 

 not able to offer any amument in favour of this opinion. 



In the vessels already alluded to, the balsam sometimes collects m 

 so large a quantity, that the trunk is unable to sustain the inward 

 pressu]-e, and hursts. This curious phenomenon is thus referred to in a 

 letter addressed to one of us by Mr. Spruce ; — " I have three or four 

 tunes heard what the Indians assured me was the bursting of au old 

 capivi-tree, distended with oil. It is one of the strange sounds that 



sometimes disturb the vast solitudes of a South American forest. It 

 resembles the boom of a distant cannon, and is quite distinct from 

 the crash of an old tree falling from decay which one hears not 

 unfrequently." 



A similar phenomenon is known in Borneo, The trunks of aged 

 trees of Dryohalanops aromatica contain large quantities of oleo-resin 

 or Camphor Oil,^ which appears to be sometimes secreted under such 

 pressure that the vast trunk gives way. "There is another sound," 

 says Spenser St. John," " only heard in the oldest forests, and that is as 

 if a mighty tree were rent in twain. I often asked the cause, and was 

 assured it was the camphor tree splitting asunder on account of the 

 accumulation of camphor in some particular portion." 



Extraction— Balsam Capivi is collected by the Indians on the banks 

 of the Orinoco and its upper affluents, and carried to Ciudad Bohvar 

 (Angostura) ; some of this balsam reaches Europe by way of Trznidad. 

 ^ut it is obtained much more largely on the tributaries of the Cais- 

 quiari and Rio Negro (the Siapa, I^anna, Uaupe's, etc.) and is sent down 

 to Para. Most of the northern tributaries of the Amazon, as the 

 irombetas and Nhamunda, likewise furnish a supply. According to 

 J^Pruce, in the Amazon valley it is the tall virgin forest, Caaguaga oi 

 tile Brazilians, Monte Alto of the Venezuelans, that yields most of the 

 oils and gum-resins, and not the low, dry caatingas, or the ripanal 

 torests. The same observant traveller tells us that in Southern A ene- 

 zuela, capivi is known only as el Aceife de fcdo (wood-oil), the name 

 ^^dsamo being that of the so-called Sassafras Oil, obtained from a 

 species of Fectandra. 



Balsam Copaiba is also largely exported from Maracaibo where, 



J Valmont de Bomare, Did. d'HU. Nat. » Motley in Hooker's Joimi. nf Botany, 



'■P'7;))387. iv. (1852) 201. ^ ^, ^ 



■ J^otanische Zutunu, kv. (1857) 310. "" Life hi the ForesU of Ihe Far t'tM, 



ii. (1862) 152. 



