OF THE AMAZON. 75 



never cut down a branch, but pass and repass daily m 

 their little canoes which wind like snakes among the 

 tangled mass of thorny vegetation. They are thus 

 almost safe against the incursions of the white traders, 

 who often attack them in their most distant retreats, 

 carry fire and sword into their peaceful houses and take 

 captive their wives and children. But few white men 

 can penetrate for miles along a little winding stream 

 such as is here described, where not a broken twig or 

 cut branch is found to show that a human being has 

 ever passed before. Thus does the thorny "jacitara" 

 help to secure the independence of the wild Indian in 

 the depths of the forests which he loves. 



This species most nearly agrees with the D. macro- 

 acanthus of Martius. Fine specimens of an allied species 

 may be seen growing in the Palm House at Kew. 



A fruit is represented on the Plate of the natural size. 



h 2 



