THE JUVIA 397 



subacid flavour, and may be fermented into a kind of 

 wine, or distilled into arrack. The nut, of a kidney 

 shape, is attached to the end of the apple; it is inclosed 

 in two shells, between which there is a native inflam- 

 mable oil, which is so caustic that it will blister the 

 skin. The kernel, contained in the second or inner 

 shell, is of a very fine flavour, and used to give a 

 pleasant taste to many products of cookery: it also 

 greatly improves the flavour of chocolate. 



THE JUVIA Bertholletia excelsa. 



This is one of the most extraordinary fruits of 

 South America, which has been made familiar to us 

 principally by the interesting description of Hum- 

 boldt. It was first noticed in a geographical work 

 published in 1633, by Laet, who says that the 

 weight of this fruit is so enormous, that, at the period 

 when it falls, the savages dare not enter the forests 

 without covering their heads and shoulders with a 

 strong buckler of wood. The natives of Esmerelda 

 still describe the dangers which they run, when the 

 fruit falls from the height of fifty or sixty feet. The 

 triangular grains which the shell of the juvia in- 

 closes, are known in commerce under the name of 

 Brazil nuts ; and it has been erroneously thought 

 that they grow upon the tree in the form in which 

 they are imported. 



The tree which produces the juvia is only about 

 two or three feet in diameter, but it reaches a height 

 of a hundred and twenty feet. The fruit is as large 

 as a child's head. Humboldt justly observes that 

 nothing can give a more forcible idea of the power 

 of vegetable life in the equinoctial zone than these 

 enormous ligneous pericarps. In fifty or sixty days 

 a shell is formed half an inch in thickness, which 

 it is difficult to open with the sharpest instrument. 



VOL. II. 16* 



