172 BANKS OF THE CASSIQUIARE. 



space sufficient to contain twelve or thirteen per- 

 sons. Most of the trees which thus formed a living 

 fence were more than one hundred feet in height, 

 while some, especially of the palm tribe, attained an 

 elevation of from one hundred and fifty to two 

 hundred feet. 



Humholdt noticed during his progress through 

 South America, many extraordinary specimens of 

 vegetable grandeur. He measured, on the banks 

 of the Atabapo, a Bomban ceiba, more than one 

 hundred and twenty feet high, and fifteen feet in dia- 

 meter. Near the village of Turmero, south-west of 

 the city of Caraccas, was found the celebrated Za- 

 mang del Guayra, a species of mimosa, of which the 

 hemispherical head shadowed a space of six hun- 

 dred feet. The branches extended like an immense 

 umbrella, drooping at the extremities, and forming 

 a canopy at the height of about twelve or fifteen 

 feet from the ground. The circumference of the 

 head in this extraordinary species is uniformly regu- 

 lar, varying in different specimens from 204 to 198 

 feet. 



Beautiful, too, is the effect produced by the 

 blended foliage of the cocoa, the Theobroma cacao, 

 and that of the coral-tree, madre del cacao, or 

 mother of the cocoa, which spreads its fostering arms 

 above the cocoa, as if to shield it from the fierce 

 beams of a tropical sun. This guardian plant rises 

 to a considerable height, and is covered with bright 

 yellow blossoms, while the cocoa is not unlike a 

 cherry-tree in form, and seldom exceeds ten feet 

 in height ; but the general aspect of the tree is 

 pleasing to the eye ; its oblong and pointed leaves 



