940 



If it were not encumbering your pages, I would state my opinion 

 that the plant is naturalized at this place. The heaps of rubble on 

 which it grows have not been disturbed for years, and until they be 

 cleared away, the plant will in all likelihood remain and spread itself. 

 It is now to be found more scattered than it was three years ago. 



Isaiah W. N. Keys. 



Plymouth, August 5, 1847. 



The Castanha Tree. 



" Back of the house was a grove of fine trees, some apparently hav- 

 ing been planted for ornament, others bearing profusion of various 

 sorts of fruits. The one of all these most attractive was that which 

 produces the Brazil-nut, called in the country castanhas. Botani- 

 cally it is the Bertholletia excelsa. This tree was upwards of one 

 hundred feet in height and between two and three in diameter. From 

 the branches were depending the fruits, large as cocoa-nuts. The 

 shell of these is nearly half an inch in thickness, and contains the 

 triangular nuts so nicely packed that once removed no skill can re- 

 place them. It is no easy matter to break this tough covering, re- 

 quii'ing some instrument and the exercise of considerable strength : 

 yet we were assured by an intelligent friend at the Barra of the Rio 

 Negro that the Guaribas or howling monkeys are in the habit of 

 breaking them by striking them upon stones or the limbs of iron-like 

 trees. This friend related an amusing incident of which he had been 

 witness, where the monkey, forgetful of everything else, pounding 

 down the nut with might and main, in a fever of excitement struck it 

 with tremendous force upon the tip of his tail. Down dropped the 

 nut and away flew monkey, bounding and howling fearfully. How 

 long the victim was laid up by his lame tail our friend was unable to 

 inform us ; but we thought one thing certain, that monkeys had 

 changed since Goldsmith's day, inasmuch as at that time, as we are 

 informed, the tip of a monkey's tail was so remote from the centre of 

 circulation as to be destitute of feeling. When the castanha-nuts are 

 fresh they much resemble in taste the cocoa-nut, and the white milk, 

 easily expressed, is no bad substitute for milk in coffee. This soon 

 becomes rancid, and at length turns to oil. The nuts are exported 

 largely from Para, and are said to form a very important ingredient in 

 the manufacture of sperm candles." — A Voyage up the Amazon. 



