140 CRUSOE'S ISLAND. 



The trees I have enumerated were all wild, either 

 indigenous or so long resident as to have become en- 

 titled to be so considered. Some of them, besides 

 furnishing valuable timber, yielded rare gums, like the 

 "locust," the parrot apple, and the mammie apple, 

 used in the arts ; and one kind so fragrant that it has 

 been burned in the churches as incense. 



Valuable dyes are extracted from various woods 

 and plants, as from the logwood, found along the 

 shores of the lagoons, the eboe wood, and the indigo. 

 Having no use for any dye, I did not avail myself 

 of the material for any purpose whatever ; but one 

 day, being out of ink, I found a very good substi- 

 tute in the juice of a banana leaf. I do not recall 

 that Crusoe found the banana among the vegetable 

 products of his island ; but if he did this was one use 

 he did not put it to, for he says, " I could not make 

 any Ink by any Means that I could devise." 



That Crusoe had some knowledge of the trees of 

 this island is shown by his naive suggestions that the 

 trees he found were this or that, but without commit- 

 ting himself to a positive definition, as, for instance : 

 " At last Friday pitched upon a Tree, for I found he 

 knew much better than I what kind of Wood was 

 fitted for the Canoe ; nor can I tell to this Day what 

 Wood to call it except that it was very like the Tree 

 we call Fustic, or between that and Nicaragua Wood, 

 for it was much of the same Colour and Smell. And 

 Friday was for burning the Hollow or Cavity of this 

 Tree out, to make it for a Boat." 



One tree, however, Crusoe makes no mention of. 



