28 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP. 



of room, and, besides what could be stowed down 

 below, had generally to be piled to an inconvenient 

 height on deck. We used to embark as much as 

 would last us from thirty to thirty-six hours, and we 

 consumed on an average seventy sticks an hour, the 

 sticks being a Portuguese vara (five spans) long and 

 three or four inches thick. Piles of firewood are 

 established at convenient distances all along the 

 banks. The wood which is most largely consumed 

 is that of the Mulatto tree, so called from its shining 

 bark, which is sometimes of a leaden-coloured hue, 

 at others verging on red. It is one of the most 

 abundant and at the same time handsomest trees all 

 along the Amazon, growing often to 100 feet high, 

 and in the spring-time bearing a profusion of white 

 flowers which may be compared to those of the 

 hawthorn for size and odour. The tree, however, 

 belongs to a very different tribe, and is closely allied 

 to the Cascarilla or Peruvian Bark tree. It was un- 

 known to botanists until I sent specimens from 

 Santarem, and Mr. Bentham has called it Enkylista 

 Spruceana. The wood causes a good deal of flame, 

 and burns nearly as well when green as dry. . . . 



Imagine the cabin passengers of the Monarca 

 stretched in their hammocks under an awning in 

 the poop eagerly listening to one of their number 

 reading from an old black-letter copy of the fabulous 

 history of " Carlos Magno," and amongst those 

 listeners were a Juiz de Direito, a Procurador 

 Publico, two military Commandants going to take 

 charge of garrisons at Ega and at the mouth of the 

 river lea, and an English botanist whom, at least, 

 one would have supposed far in advance of such 

 old-world fooleries. When I reached San Carlos in 



