Chap. II. HEIGHT OF TREES. 67 



place there was a quantity of large empty wooden 

 vessels, which Isidoro told us fell from the Sapucaya 

 tree. They are called Monkey's drinking-cups (Cuyas 

 de Macaco), and are the capsules which contain the nuts • 

 sold under the name just mentioned, in Covent Garden 

 Market. At the top of the vessel is a circular hole, in 

 which a natural lid fits neatly. When the nuts are ripe 

 this lid becomes loosened, and the heavy cup falls with 

 a crash, scattering the nuts over the gTound. The tree 

 which yields the nut (Lecythis ollaria), is of immense 

 height. It is closely allied to the Brazil-nut tree 

 (Berth oUetia excelsa), whose seeds are also enclosed in 

 large woody vessels ; but these have no lid, and fall 

 entire to the gTound. This is the reason why the 

 one kind of nut is so much dearer than the other. The 

 Sapucaya is not less abundant, probably, than the Ber- 

 tholletia, but its nuts in falling are scattered about and 

 eaten by wild animals ; whilst the full capsules of 

 Brazil-nuts are collected entire by the natives. 



Wliat attracted us chiefly were the colossal trees. 

 The general run of trees had not remarkably thick 

 stems ; the gi^eat and uniform height to which they 

 gi'ow without emitting a branch, was a much more 

 noticeable feature than their thickness ; but at intervals 

 of a furlong or so a veritable giant towered up. Only 

 one of these monstrous trees can grow within a given 

 space ; it monopoKses the domain, and none but indi- 

 viduals of much inferior size can find a footing near 

 it. The cylindrical trunks of these larger trees were 

 generally about 20 to 25 feet in circumference. Yon 

 Martins mentions having measured trees in the Para dis- 



F 2 



