: 36 YIEWS OP NATUBE. 



ritia flexuosa, Quieteva, or Ita Palm,* belongs, together with 

 Calamus, to the family of the Lepidocaryse or Corypheae. 

 Linnaeus has described it very imperfectly, as he erroneously 

 considered it to be devoid of leaves. The trunk is 26 feet 

 nigh, but it probably does not attain this height in less than 

 120 or even 150 years. The Mauritia extends high up the 

 declivity of the Duida, north of the Esmeralda mission, where 

 I found it in great beauty. It forms, in moist places, fine 

 groups of a fresh and shining verdure, reminding us of 

 that of our alders. The trees preserve the moisture of the 

 ground by their shade, and hence the Indians believe that the 

 Mauritia draws water around its roots by some mysterious 

 attraction. In conformity with an analogous theory they 

 advise, that serpents should not be killed, because the de- 

 struction of these animals is followed by the drying up of the 

 lagoons. Thus do the rude children of nature confound cause 

 and effect! Gumilla calls the Mauritia flexuosa of the Gua- 

 ranes the tree of life (" arbol de la vida"). It is found on the 

 mountains of Ronaima, east of the sources of the Orinoco, as 

 high as 4263 feet. On the unfrequented banks of the Rio 

 Atabapo, in the interior of Guiana, we discovered a new 

 species of Mauritia having a prickly stem; our Mauritia 

 aculeata.\ 



(32) p. 13. " An American Stylite" 



The founder of the sect of Stylites, the fanatical Pillar- 

 saint, Simeon Sisanites of Syria, the son of a Syrian herdsman, 

 is said to have passed thirty-seven years in lioly contempla- 

 tion, elevated on five columns, each higher than the preceding. 

 He died in the year 461. The last of the pillars which he 

 occupied was 40 ells in height. For seven hundred years 

 there continued to be followers of this mode of life, who were 

 called Sancti Columnar es, or Pillar-saints. Even in Germany, 

 in the see of Treves, attempts were made to found similar 

 aerial cloisters; but the dangerous practice met with the con- 

 stant opposition of the bishops .J 



* Bernau. Missionary Labours in British Guiana, 1847, pp. 34, 44; 

 t Humboldt, Bonpland, et Kunth, Nova genera et species Plan- 

 tarum, t. i. p. 310. 



I Mosheim, Institut. Hist. Eccles., 1755, p. 215. 



