318 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



of cattle estates send their mayordomos into the woods to collect the gum, 

 which is found exuding from the pores of the tree, and often collecting, like 

 that of the peach, in some knot or bruise along its smooth surface. The gum 

 trickles from the incision in transparent tears down the conduits made by 

 the natives, until, from a spout inserted in some convenient place, a pint or 

 more is collected. By climbing to the lower branches a purer quality is said 

 to be obtained. 



"A rim of plantain leaves, bound tightly around the trunk and left for 

 several days, is found filled with the precious distillation. I afterwards 

 went with Julio, the mayordomo of Lepaguare, about two leagues to one of 

 these trees, where he procured from the leafy troughs at least a pii^t. The 

 trunk of the liquid amber-tree is clammy to the touch, so that numerous living 

 bees, attracted by the sweet, glutinous substance sweating from the pores, are 

 found sticking helplessly to the bark. The gum, when bottled, becomes of the 

 consistency of sirup. In the caialleria of Don Francisco Zelaya there were 

 at least two gallons used for no other purpose than to heal the wounds of 

 horses, mules and cattle. * * * i ^vas assured that it never failed to 

 effect a speedy cure for flesh-wounds in horses, and that in the mountain.s, 

 when the mahogany-cutters or hunters wounded themselves, they applied at 

 once to this tree for remedios. It is sometimes mixed into a stiff gum with 

 other substances, and chewed by the Indians as a preservative of the teeth." 



One of the earliest references to the sweet-gum tree is that by Bernal Diaz 

 del Castillo^ who, describing the meals taken by the Mexican emperor, says : 

 " After he had dined, they presented to him three little canes highly orna- 

 mented, containing liquid amber, mixed with an herb they call tobacco, and 

 when he had sufficiently viewed and heard the singers, dancers, and buffOons, 

 he took a little of the smoke of one of these canes." The balsam and gum were 

 much used for flavoring tobacco and also as incense in houses and temples. 

 As for medicinal uses, the tree was employed in catarrhal, stomachic, and other 

 affections, and was reputed to have stimulant properties. The following ac- 

 count of the tree by Hernandez,'' accompanied by a figure, is given in a chapter 

 entitled " De Xocliiocotzo Quahuitl, sen Arbore Liquidambari Indici " : " Xo- 

 cldocotzo Quahuitl is a large tree, with leaves almost like those of a maple, 

 divided into three points and two notches, toothed, on one side whitish and 

 on the other darker. The bark of the trunk is partly yellow and partly 

 green. It grows in plains and in hot, or sometimes in teiuperate places, like 

 Hoeyacocotla, Quahuchinac, and Xicotepec. Its nature is hot and dry, and 

 its odor pleasant. If the bark of this tree is cut, there flows from it what is 

 called Indian Liquidambar by the Spaniards, and by the Mexicans Xochiocotzol, 

 in the sweetness of its odor very like Styrax. Its nature is hot in the third 

 order, and dry, and added to tobacco it strengthens the head, belly, and heart, 

 induces sleep, and alleviates pains in the head that are caused by colds. 

 Alone, it dissipates humors, relieves pains, and cures eruptions of the skin. 

 From the same tree, either spontaneously or from incisions, there is dis- 

 tilled an oil, no whit inferior to the famed liquor, either in sweetness of odor 

 or in medicinal virtues, albeit some assert that the oil is distilled from the 

 first liquor, put in a suitable place, or expressed, so that the thinner part of 

 it may distil : and they assert that it is hot and moist, not accurately, however. 



* True history of the conquest of Mexico, translation by Keatinge, p. 140. 1800. 

 'Thesaurus 56. 1651. See also M. G. Lozada, El LiquidSmbar, Naturaleza 1: 

 70. 



