ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 365 



the half-carbonized bark. When children eat the fruit of the Piri- 

 gara speciosa (the Chupo), their whole body becomes tinged with 

 yellow; it is a jaundice, which lasts from 24 to 36 hours, and then 

 disappears without the use of medicine. 



I have never forgotten the impression which I received of the 

 luxuriant power of vegetation in the tropical world, when, on enter- 

 ing a Cacao plantation (Caca hual), in the Valles de Aragua, after a 

 damp night, I saw for the first time large blossoms springing from a 

 root of the Theobroma deeply imbedded in black earth. It was one 

 of the most instantaneous manifestations of the activity of the vege- 

 tative organic forces. Northern nations speak of the -" awakening of 

 Nature at the first breath of the mild air of spring." Such an ex- 

 pression is singularly contrasted with the imagination of the Stagy- 

 rite, who recognized in plants forms which " lie buried in a tranquil 

 slumber that knows no waking, free from the desires which impel 

 to spontaneous motion." (Aristot, de generat. Animal., v. i. p. 778, 

 and de somno et vigil., cap. 1, p. 455, Bekker.) 



( 36 ) p. 245. " Draw over tlieir heads" 



The flowers of our Aristolochia cordata, to which I have already 

 referred in Note 25. The largest flowers in the world, apart from 

 Composite (in the Mexican Helianthus annuus), belong to Rafflesia 

 arnoldi, Aristolochia, Datura, Barringtonia, Gustavia, Carolinea, 

 Lecythis, Nymphaea, Nelumbium, Victoria regina, Magnolia, Cactus, 

 and to Orchideous and Liliaceous plants. 



( 3 ?) p. 246. " To behold all the shining worlds which stud the 



heavenly vault from pole to pole" 



The finest portion of the southern celestial hemisphere, where 

 shine the constellations of the Centaur, the Ship, and the Southern 

 Cross, and where the soft lustre of the Magellanic clouds is seen, 

 remains for ever concealed from the view of the inhabitants of Eu- 

 rope. It is only beneath the equinoctial line that Man enjoys the 

 peculiar privilege of beholding at once all the stars both of the south- 

 ern and the northern heavens. Some of our northern constellations 

 seen from thence appear from their low altitude of a surprising and 



31* 



