m VARIOUS PARTS OF THE GLOBE. l79 



exudes a reddish brown resin used as incense in Bolivia, and 

 known in commerce by the name of Balsam of Tolu. Another 

 plant, not less worthy of attention, and more characteristic of the 

 country, as it is found isolated in the midst of the Pampas, is the 

 Algaroba; its large, round, evergreen head, supported by a 

 stem only a few yards in height, serves as shelter as well from 

 rain as the rays of the sun. The legumes of this tree, gathered 

 a little before they are ripe, are used to fatten cattle ; later, its 

 seeds, ground to powder, constitute the principal food of many of 

 the inhabitants of the country. Its wood is white, and is used 

 for several economical purposes, and the black astringent matter 

 which oozes from its bark is employed in the preparation of a 

 dye, as is also the fruit of the Algarobilla, a smaller tree of the 

 same class, and found in similar places. Of smaller plants I 

 need only notice the Mangara, a curious Arad, common in tlie 

 Pampas, known by its spathe, which is dark violet on its inner 

 surface ; the root of this plant is flattened like the tubercle of a 

 Cyclamen, and is eaten by the Chiriguanos Indians, notwith- 

 standing its extreme acridity, which they only succeed in slightly 

 subduing. 



As no guide would accompany me through the country of the 

 Chiriguanos Indians, I was compelled, having arrived at Gu- 

 tierres, to proceed to Tarija by a route which I had not in- 

 tended to follow, viz. through the provinces of Azero, Tomina, 

 and Cinti. 



The road I took brought me through valleys, over high table- 

 lands, and amongst a vegetation no longer like that which I had 

 left. The Pampas of Gutierres are not more than 1000 or 1100 

 yards above the sea, and the climate is tropical ; but at Sauces, 

 which I reached on the 16th of December, the climate was more 

 temperate, and I met for the first time with plants belonging 

 to European genera, such for example as a yellow Ranunculus 

 very like our own Buttercup, the common Elder {Sambucus 

 nigra), and Willows, which are so abundant that they have given 

 their name (Sauces) to the place. Amongst the objects worthy 

 of notice here are the various plants used by the inhabitants for 

 dyeing. Foremost stands the Chapi, which yields a red dye like 

 Madder ; there are two sorts of it ; the one, called Chapi del Monte, 

 or of the woods ; the other, Chapi de la Pampa, or Pampa-Chapi ; 

 both belong to the genus Galium, and contain their colouring 

 matter, the first in its slender woody stem, which resembles that 

 of a creeper ; the second, like most other Stellates, in its roots. 

 Next in importance is a Baccharis closely allied to B. genistel- 

 loides, upon the stem of which there is a sort of gall which 

 yields a tolerably good green dye. Anotlier Baccharis (Tolilla) 

 furnishes by a simple boiling a beautiful yellow. The Indigo 



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