850 



heaviness militates against this use. It is very durable and chiefly 

 used in house-framing ; but as it is said that barnacles do not attack 

 it, it is also employed in wharfs, &c. The bark is easily stripped off, 

 and consists of numerous layers, which the Indians separate by beat- 

 ing with a stick, and the author has counted as many as seventy of 

 these layers in a strip of bark. When separated they have the 

 appearance of thin satin paper ; they are dried in the sun, and used 

 as wrappers for cigars. 



Sirnaruha, or Sumaruppa (Siraarouba amara, Auhl.). Grows on 

 hill-sides to the height of 50 feet, branching and somewhat crooked. 

 The wood resembles white pine, both in colour and quality, and 

 makes good boards for inside work. A decoction of the bark, which 

 is intensely bitter, is considered an excellent remedy in dysentery 

 and other complaints of the bowels, and is much used among the 

 Indians. 



Yahou. Grows in valleys in rich soil, and is much used for the 

 staves of casks, &c. 



Wallaha (Eperua falcata, Auhl.). In great abundance along the 

 banks of rivers, reaching 40 feet in height, and being often 2 feet in 

 diameter. Bark reddish brown, with a thin white sap, enclosing a 

 wood of a deep red colour frequently variegated with whitish streaks. 

 It is hard, heavy and shining, and impregnated with an oily resin, 

 which makes it very durable both in and out of water. It splits very 

 easily, and is consequently generally used for palings, shingles and 

 vat-staves, and also for posts and uprights in framing. The bark, 

 which is somewhat bitter, is a good emetic, which is much used by 

 the Arawak Indians in a decoction. 



Curahuri or Kuruhura. Tall and straight. Wood used for 

 framing, boards and planks. 



Curana, Samaria, Acuyari, Mara, or Cedar-TVood (Icica altis- 

 sima, Auhl.) ; two varieties, as they are considered by Aublet, one 

 having red wood and the other white. The red cedar is found only 

 in the interior, growing to 60 or 70 feet and even higher, and fi'om 4 

 to 5 feet in diameter. It has a strong aromatic smell, and is much in 

 request for inside furnishing, bookcases and shelves, as it is found to 

 preserve books and papers from injury by insects, and is also light, 

 easily worked and not liable to split. Its great height would qualify 

 it for masts, and the Indians prefer its trunk to that of any other tree 

 for preparing their canoes. One of those employed by the author 

 during an expedition into the interior, which was 42 feet long and 5^ 

 feet wide, was hollowed out of a single t.runk of this tree, and was 



