68 PARA. Chap. II. 



trict belonging to various species (Symphonia coccinea, 

 Lecythis sp. and Cratasva Tapia), which were 50 to 60 

 feet in girth at the point where they become cylindrical. 

 The heio^ht of the vast column-like stems could not 

 be less than 100 feet from the ground to their lowest 

 branch. Mr. Leavens, at the saw-mills, told me they 

 frequently squared logs for sawing 100 feet long, of 

 the Pao d'Arco and the Massaranduba. The total 

 height of these trees, stem and crown together, may 

 be estimated at from 180 to 200 feet : where one of 

 them stands, the vast dome of foliage rises above the 

 other forest trees as a domed cathedra] does above the 

 other buildings in a city. 



A very remarkable feature in these trees is the 

 growth of buttress-shaped projections around the lower 

 part of their stems. The spaces between these but- 

 tresses, which are generally thin walls of wood, form 

 spacious chambers, and may be compared to stalls 

 in a stable : some of them are large enough to hold 

 half-a-dozen persons. The purpose of these structures 

 is as obvious, at the first glance, as that of the similar 

 props of brickwork which support a high wall. They are 

 not peculiar to one species, but are common to most of the 

 larger forest trees. Their nature and manner of growth 

 are explained when a series of young trees of different 

 ages is examined. It is then seen that they are the roots 

 which have raised themselves ridge-like out of the 

 earth ; growing gradually upwards as the increasing 

 height of the tree required augmented support. Thus 

 they are plainly intended to sustain the massive crown 

 and trunk in these crowded forests, where lateral gi'owth 



