TIMBER TREES. 263 



adventures that happened vnto him, the which I have writ- LlB - IV - 

 ten briefly, being so worthy the knowledge, and having 

 my selfe travelled a little over the mountain es of the Indies, 

 were it but the eighteene leagues betwixt Nombre de Dios 

 and Panama, may well iudge what great forrests there are. 

 So as having no winter in those parts, to nip them with 

 colde, and the humiditie of the heavens and earth being so 

 great, as the mountaines bring foorth infinit forrests, and the 

 plaines, which they call Savannas, great plenty of grasse : 

 there is no want of pasture for feeding, of timber building, 

 nor of wood for fewell. It is impossible to set downe the 

 differences and formes of so many wilde trees, for that the 

 names of the greatest parte are vnknowne. 



Cedars, in olde time so much esteemed, are there very 

 common, both for buildings and shippes, and they are of 

 diverse sortes, some white, and some redde, very odoriferous. 

 There are great store of laurels, very pleasant to beholde, 

 vpon the Andes of Peru, vppon the mountaines of Tierra 

 Fir me, in the Hands, in Nicaragua, and in New Spaine. 

 There are also infinite numbers of Palmes and Ceyvas, whereof 

 the Indians make their Canoes, which are boates made of one 

 peece. They bring into Spaine from the Havana, excellent 

 timber. In the Hand of Cuba, there are infinite numbers 

 of like trees, as Evanos, Caovana, Granadillo, Cedars, 

 and other kindes which I do not know. There are great 

 pine trees in New Spaine, though they be not so strong 

 as those in Spaine; they beare cones but empty apples. 1 

 The oaks as they call them of Guayaquil, is an excellent 

 wood and sweet, when they cut it; yea, there are canes 

 or most high reedes, of whose boughs or small reedes 

 they doe make bottles and pitchers to carry water, and do 

 likewise vse them in their buildings. There are likewise 

 the &quot; Palos de Mangles&quot;, whereof they make masts for their 



