851 



found at the end of four years' service, having previously been much 

 used, to be as sound as when bought for the expedition, although it 

 had been in both fresh and salt water, and hauled over land and 

 cataracts in the interval. 



Itaballi or Copai-ye of the Macusi Indians (Vochy Guianensis, 

 Auhl.). From 50 to 60 feet high, and from 2 to 2^ feet in diameter. 

 Wood hard, but not very durable when exposed to the weather ; 

 chiefly used for inside work, staves for sugar-hogsheads, boat-oars, 

 &c. Flowers of a beautiful yellow, highly odoriferous and very orna- 

 mental. 



White Siruahalli. A tall tree ; wood much lighter than the brown 

 Siruaballi previously mentioned, but not so much esteemed. 



Curata-ye of the Macusis (Curatella Americana, L.). A crooked 

 tree, seldom more than 12 feet high, with crooked and tortuous 

 branches, and a thick rough bark which frequently peels off in large 

 flakes. The crooked branches are much used by the Indians for their 

 canoes, and might serve for military saddles. It grows only in the 

 Savannahs of the interior. The leaves, which are scabrous, are used 

 by the Indians like sand-paper to polish their blow-pipes, bows, war- 

 clubs, &c. ; and the blow-pipe being called Cura, the tree has thence 

 received the name of Curatakie. 



Burracurra, Paira, letter-wood, or Snnkewood (Piritanera Guia- 

 nensis, Auhl.). This tree, which is very scarce within several hun- 

 dred miles of the sea-coast, is often from 60 to 70 feet high, and from 

 2 to 3 in diameter. The bark is of a dark gray, and when wounded 

 exudes a white milk. The outer part of the wood is white and very 

 hard ; the heart (which in the largest tree scarcely exceeds 6 or 7 

 inches in diameter) is of great weight, hardness and solidity, of a 

 beautiful deep red, variegated with black spots of different size and 

 figure, which give rise to its name. It is susceptible of a brilliant 

 polish ; but the small size of the mottled part, and its great value 

 even in the colony, limits its use almost entirely to veneering, to pic- 

 ture-frames, to some smaller pieces of furniture, and to walking-sticks. 

 The Indians form it into bows more for ornament than ..use. At the 

 foot of the Canuku Mountains near the river Rupununi, at the Upper 

 Essequibo, and Corentyn, it is still plentiful ; but all these places 

 being several hundred miles from the sea-coast, it is both difl3cult 

 and expensive to convey it to the colony. There appears to be a 

 variety, the heart of which is not mottled, and this the Indians are 

 said to prefer to the other for their bows. 



Wamara. A scarce tiee, attaining a great height, but the only 



