74 TRANSITION OF INORGANIC INCO ORGANIC MiiTTER. 



carbon and hydrogen, similar to the essence of turpentine. The 

 balsams of Peru and Tolu are obtained by incising the bark of the 

 trees which produce them. In Choco, where I have seen numerous 

 incisions made in the lower part of the trunk of the Tolu trees, the 

 balsam flows slowly, on account of its thickness ; it does not, ap- 

 parently, contain any water. 



SACCHARINE SAPS. 



The sap of the fraxinus omu^, and that of the fraxinus rotundi- 

 folia^ yield manna on drying or becoming thick. The sap of several 

 palms contains a considerable quantity of saccharine matter. At 

 Java, for instance, crystalline sugar is extracted from the arenga 

 sacchanfera. In several places, the sap of palm-trees is subjected 

 to fermentation in order to prepare vinous liquors. 



The Cocos butyracea {palma de vino) is very common in the valley 

 of the Rio-Grande de la Magdalena. From a superficial e.vamina- 

 tion which I made of it, its sap contains sugar, an azotized matter, 

 and some soluble salts. 



By fermentation, it produces a vinous liquor sufficiently alcoholic 

 to produce intoxication. In order to procure it, the natives of 

 Benadillo first fell the tree, taking care, when it is down, to give the 

 trunk a slijjht inclination from the summit towards the lower extremity 

 or foot. They then make a hole towards the base of the trunk suf- 

 ficiently large to hold from fifteen to eighteen pints, the orifice of 

 which they plug up with leaves. The woody tissue, to all outward 

 appearance, contams but little moisture ; but in ten or twelve hours 

 after the operation, the cavity is found full of a liquid, of a well- 

 marked vinous odor, and of a sourish taste, owing probably to the 

 carbonic acid which is disengaged in large quantity. The wine thus 

 obtained is rather agreeable. A palm-tree of from 50 to fiO iVet in 

 hei<,'ht, and of which the trunk towards the base is iVoin '20 to 24 

 inches in diameter, will yield from twenty to thirty pints of wine in 

 twenty-four hours during ten or twelve days. The wine must n«)t 

 be allowed to remtrin too long after it has collected, otherwise il 

 becomes sour. 



JSugar is far from being the only useful substance atTorded by 

 palms. There are several of these trees which are truly astonishing 

 by reason of the many important uses to which they may be applied ; 

 and it is not without reason that the missionaries have styled the 

 palm, the tree of Provitlence, the bread of life. Such more espe- 

 cially is the Cocas mauritia, which grows in the plains of the Apure 

 and Oront>ko ; its young shoots serve as aliment ; from its fruit, 

 while still green, a farinaceous food may be obtained ; and when 

 perfectly ripe, it yields oil in abundance. Hammocks and various 

 kinds of cloth are made of the fibrous portion of the bark of this 

 tree ; the young leaves serve to make hats, mats, and sads for ships ; 

 the tissue which surrounds the fruit furnishf-s the Indians wiih 

 clothing ; the sap ferments and yields wine ; the trunk before fruc- 

 tification contains an amylaceous marrow, of which bread is made , 

 this marrow, on bec<»ming putrid, produces a vast multitude of l&rgs 



