148 JOURNAL OP THE TRINIDAD 



of foliage shutting out the sky from our view. I looked 

 in vain for the marvellous effects of light and shade caused 

 by the golden sunshine above ; the gorgeously winged butter- 

 flies and moths were nowhere to be seen ; the impression 

 of being in a glorious minster aisle with feathered choristers 

 pouring out their hearts in thrilling song upon the 

 roof was not my experience. Of these things I saw nothing. 

 But, as we penetrated deeper and deeper into what were to me 

 pathless wilds I found much to interest, instruct, amuse. Our 

 companions had seen it all again and again but they were 

 generous enough to point out each little fact which they thought 

 would be entertaining to a stranger used only to the asphalted 

 streets and ways of town. So well did they succeed that I soon 

 forgot to note the clever manner in which I was being piloted, 

 and only listened to the treasures of woodsman's lore which 

 they so freely imparted. There was the tree, they said, which 

 yielded the copaiba* balsam of our drug stores, and then they 

 showed me how it was collected — by cutting a huge notch in the 

 bole, and hollowing out the lower part of the incision so as to 

 form a basin. A collector had been here before us and had 

 fastened strips of bark and leaves over the notch to shield it 

 from the air. We peeped inside and there saw about half a pint 

 of liquid ready for bottling. Another tree of which I could only 

 see the trunk was the Bois Canarif the ashes of which are 

 used in making the clay for the manufacture of the canaries^ of 

 our Creole kitchens. An enormous trunk 4.^ feet in diameter was 

 that of the Balata§ and I recollected with pleasure the delicious 

 fruit I have only once or twice tasted. Frequently these noble 

 trees are hewn down simply for their fruit — the growth of 

 generations, the number of which are perhaps more than I should 

 like to hazard mentioning, for fear of being thought guilty of 

 exaggeration, are destroyed for the enjoyment of an hour. 

 Many of the trees in the forest are so buttressed round that one 

 wonders how any one could have the patience to hew them down, 

 but the difficulty is soon surmounted by the ruthless woodsman 

 who builds a scaffolding 12 or 14 feet high round the tree and 

 then cuts the trunk where it is more slender than it is at its 

 base. Although we were apparently so far away from anywhere in 

 particular, we had not got away from evidences of man's 

 ingenuity, for we stumbled across a forester's bucket for carrying 

 water, constructed of the gigantic leaves of the Palmiste Mahoe,|| 

 and made so cleverly that it would hold two gallons of water 

 without a leak. To find a ravine close by was only natural after 



*Copaifera officinalis. \Hivtclla silicea. 



JCanari — earthenware pots used in lieu of saucepans in the West Indies 



pronounced Can-er-ee. 



§Mimusops globosa, Gaertn. ||Leaf spathe of Orcodoxa regia. 



