even when old and dried. The properties of tacamahaca 
are similar to those of other terebinthinates. Its most im- 
portant use at the present time is as an incense in churches. 
Some is exported to the United States from Brazil for 
use in the lacquer industry (Tschirch, A. and E. Stock: 
Die Harze 2, pt. 1 (1935) 339). While the fragrance of 
brea is exceedingly strong, the report that ‘‘where this 
tree grows, the air in the vicinity seems pleasant and 
wholesome from the incense-like resin that drops from 
any wound in the bark and collects in masses on the 
ground’’ (Record, S. J. and R. W. Hess: Timbers of 
the New World (1943) 109) would seem, at least insofar 
as my own field experience has taught me, to be rather 
an exaggeration. 
Chemically, the resin of Protiwm heptaphyllum is made 
up of 80 per cent protamyrine, 25 per cent proteleminic 
acid, 87.5 per cent proteleresin as well as several minor 
constituents such as oil (Wehmer, C. : Die Pflanzenstoffe, 
ed. 2, 2 (1981) 651). 
Carafia, known also as gum caranna or Brazilian elemi, 
is the product of a closely allied species, Protiwm Carana 
March. It has a balsamic odor only when fresh, and it is 
bitter to the taste. The dried resin is usually grey or 
blackish grey and translucent, and it fractures with a very 
lustrous break. It apparently is not employed in the 
preparation of coca. Its other uses are, in general, similar 
to those of the resin from Protiwm heptaphyllum and often- 
times the two are not distinguished by native peoples. 
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