218 



THE UPPER AMAZONS. 



Chap. III. 



flavoured and coloured with Uiki is a favourite dish at 

 Ega. The fruit, like most of the others here mentioned, 

 ripens in Ja- 

 nuary. Many 

 smaller fruits 

 such as Wa- 

 jurii (probably 

 a species of 



Achras), the size of a gooseberry, 

 which grows singly and contains 

 a sweet gelatinous pulp enclosing 

 two large, shining black seeds ; 

 Cashipari-arapaa, an oblong 

 scarlet berry ; two kinds of 

 .Bacuri, the Bacuri-siuma and the 

 B. curua, sour fruits of a bright 

 lemon colour when ripe, and a 

 great number of others, are of less 

 importance as articles of food. 



The celebrated " Peach palm," 

 Pupunha of the Tupi nations 

 (Guilielma speciosa), is a common 

 tree at Ega. The name, I sup- 

 pose, is in allusion to the colour 

 of the fruit, and not to its fla- 

 vour, for it is dry and mealy, and 

 in taste may be compared to a 

 mixture of chestnuts and cheese. 

 Vultures devour it eagerly, and 

 come in quarrelsome flocks to Pupunha Palm, 



the trees when it is ripe. Dogs will also eat it : I 



