ROSALES.] 



FABACEiE.. 



551 



long been celebrated for their gigantic stature, and other species are the Colossi of 

 South American forests. Martins represents a scene in Brazil, where some trees of 

 this kind occm*red of such enormous dimensions, that fifteen Indians, with outstretched 

 arms, could only just embi'ace one of them. 

 At the bottom they were 84 feet in circum- 

 ference, and 60 feet where the boles became 

 cylindrical. By counting the concentric 



Fig. CCCLXXIV. 



rings of such parts as were accessible, he aiTived at the conclusion that they were 

 of the age of Homer, and 332 years old in the days of Pythagoras ; one estimate indeed, 

 reduced their antiquity to 2052 years, while another canned it up to 4104 ; from which 

 he argues that the trees cannot but date far beyond the tune of our Sa\'iour. 

 Some Indian species also jield good timber ; others, as Bauhinia racemosa and parvi- 

 flora, have bark employed in making rope. An oil is expi-essed from the seeds of some, 

 as Csesalpinia oleosperma ; others exude a mild gum hke the Mimoseae and some other 

 plants, which have at the same time an astringent bark. A brownish-coloured gum is 

 said by Roxburgh to be afFoi'ded by his Bauhinia retusa ; it is also collected from B. 

 emarginata, in the Dep-a Doon, and called Sem-ke-gond. Pithecolobium gummiferum 

 yields a gum resembUng Gum Senegal, m the province of Mines in Bra7A\.-—Martiiis. 

 The resin Anime is procured from HjTnenaa Com'baril ; the Copal of Mexico is sup- 

 posed to be the produce of some plant allied to this. That of Madagascar, and probably 

 of the East Indies generally, is furnished by Hymensea veii-ucosa. Brazilian Copal 

 flows from several species of Hymeneea, and from'Trachylobium M^crtianum.—Martius. 

 Aloexylum Agallochum produces one of the two sorts of Calambac, Eagle-wood, or 



Fig. CCCLXXIV.— Brazilian Trees, supposed to be older than the era of our Saviour.— 3far«ia. 



