OF THE AMAZON. 29 



PLATE IX. 



CEnocarptjs baccaba, Martins, 



Baccaba, Lingoa Geral. 



This is a smooth thick-stemmed handsome tree, faintly 

 ringed, and reaching fifty or sixty feet in height. The 

 leaves are large, terminal, and pinnate. The leaflets 

 are long ; gradually pointed, and set at equal distances 

 along the midrib. When young, the leaves are flat, the 

 leaflets or pinnae all standing out in the same plane; 

 but in the full-grown tree the leaflets are in groups of 

 two or three standing out at different angles from the 

 general plane of the leaf, so as to give an irregular 

 mixed appearance to the leaf. The petioles are greatly 

 dilated at the base where they clasp the stem, and 

 have a fibrous margin. The leaves as they die fall 

 clean off from the stem, no part of the base remaining. 

 The spathe is deciduous, being comparatively seldom 

 visible. The fruits are of a violet or black colour when 

 ripe, but are covered with a dense whitish bloom. They 

 are prepared in the same way as the Assai, but the 

 pulp is of a pinkish cream-colour instead of purple, and 

 the liquid is more oily, and of delicious flavour, some- 

 what resembling filberts and cream. It is said, how- 

 ever, not to be so wholesome as the Assai, and in 

 districts where intermittent fevers are prevalent, to 

 bring them on, and to be particularly hurtful to persons 

 recovering from that disease. A very beautiful oil is 



