BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 611 
found it full of islands, some of them pretty large, but al- 
most all liable to inundations. Crossing the river to the 
French shore, which was very steep, I could not refrain 
from ascending it, and there I gathered the Fern (n. 38), 
and saw several Palms that I had never met with before. 
One of these, fifty feet high, with a smooth and slender stem 
and uncommonly long pinnate fronds, I caused to be felled, 
because of the crown which it bore, consisting, perhaps, of 
500 drupaceous fruits, exactly resembling those of Prunus 
domestica, being covered also with a bluish farina, though 
not equalling our European plum in flavour. The soft pulp, 
however, bruised and mixed with water, yielded a delicious 
beverage, similar in taste, and of the same colour as choco- 
late, and the seeds contain abundance of oil. Far more va- 
luable, however, might the wood prove in the hands of 
skilful inlayers and cabinet-makers, for it is nearly as hard 
an eavy as metal and takes an equal polish; the 
colour is dark chestnut, with very regular intervening lines 
of vivid yellow. Though the pieces of this wood might 
probably only measure four inches broad by two inches thick, 
I am sure they would afford a valuable article of trade. And 
now I find no words to describe the forest which I entered. 
What are our largest oaks, when compared with these gi- 
gantic trees! One of them, prostrate on the ground, mea- 
sured ninety-six feet in length, before giving off a branch, 
and its diameter was continuously nine feet. The increasing 
rapidity of the stream and the frequency of whirlpools, some 
of which are dangerous, announce the existence of roc 
below water, for which reason, the stream is impracticable 
forlarge boats. "The water is transparent, revealing a num- 
ber of brilliantly coloured fish, one, for instance, scarlet; and 
another, blue with red eyes; not to mention many less con- 
Spicuous species, as Silurus fasciatus, Tetrodon ocellatus, and 
ilurus Bagre. 
Once more we halted with a horde of Indians, reaching, on 
the 7th of April, the frontier Post, Armina, which in former 
times had been intended to serve as a bulwark against the Bush 
