SCENERY ON THE RIVER PARAMARIBO. 91 



halting for the night on their hunting expeditions, 

 they spread their skins beneath its shade, and keep 

 up their watch-fires with its boughs. 



A man erecting his habitation in the depths of 

 these almost interminable forests, could readily ob- 

 tain all that his necessities require, and even 

 luxuries and comforts, from the vegetable produc- 

 tions that surround him. The palisada tree, a 

 species of wild palm, would furnish durable timber 

 for the side- wall of his house ; the wood of the 

 olivier, which burns with difficulty, shingles for 

 the roof and chimney; and then, for tiles, he 

 might use the broad umbrageous leaves of the 

 wild trooly, at least twenty feet in length; for 

 wainscotting or furniture, the beautiful brown 

 letter-wood, spotted like a leopard's skin, or varied 

 with marks resembling hieroglyphics, or else the 

 purple heart, so called from the Tyrian colour of its 

 wood when dry. Around him, for either use or 

 ornament, might be collected in his forest walks, 

 the maan tree, producing a fine resinous gum, 

 which, when made into tapers, imparts a clear and 

 pleasant light: the dali, bearing a berry, yielding 

 wax; the silk grass, with its small tenacious fibres, 

 that make strong thread ; the cockarito palm, afford- 

 ing excellent cabbage; the plaintain, crowned with 

 ripe fruit; the mastick tree, and cow tree, the palo 

 de baca, of Venezuela, from which exudes a rich 

 and delicious milk, rising on the rugged side of 

 some acclivity open to the sun, in places, espe- 

 cially, where the thick and tangled underwood 

 renders it impossible for cattle to find pasturage, or 

 where a rocky soil forbids the growth of grass; 



