THE VOLADOE. 25 



used for whatever restores strength, calms the irritation of 

 the nerves, or causes a feeling of comfort. We ourselves ex- 

 perienced the salutary effects of the bath. Having slung our 

 hammocks on the trees round the basin, we passed a whole 

 day in this charming spot, which abounds in plants. We 

 found near the baiio of Mariara the volador, or gyrocarpus. 

 The winged fruits of this large tree turn like a fly-wheel, 

 when they fall from the stalk. On shaking the branches of 

 the volad&r, we saw the air filled with its fruits, the simul- 

 taneous fall of winch presents the most singular spectacle. 

 The two membranaceous and striated wings are turned so 

 as to meet the air, in falling, at an angle of 45. Fortu- 

 nately the fruits we gathered were at their maturity. We 

 sent some to Europe, and they have germinated in the 

 gardens of Berlin, Paris, and Malmaison. The numerous 

 plants of the volador, now seen in hot-houses, owe their 

 origin to the only tree of the kind found near Mariara. 

 The geographical distribution of the different species of gyro- 

 carpus, which Mr. Brown considers as one of the laurinese, 

 is very singular. Jacquin saw one species near Carthagena 

 in America.* This is the same which we met with again 

 in Mexico, near Zumpango, on the road from Acapulco to 

 the capital.f Another species, which grows on the moun- 

 tains of Coromandel.J has been described by Koxburgh: 

 the third and fourth grow in the southern hemisphere, oil 

 the coasts of A ustralia. 



After getting out of the bath, while, half-wrapped in a 

 sheet, we were drying ourselves in the sun, according to 

 the custom of the country, a little man of the mulatto race 

 approached us. After bowing gravely, he made us a long 

 speech on the virtues of the waters of Mariara, adverting 

 to the numbers of invalids by whom they have been visited 

 for some years past, and to the favourable situation of the 

 springs, between the two towns Valencia and Caracas. He 



* The Gyrocarpus Jacquini of Gartner, or Gyrocarpus ameiicanus of 

 Willdenow. 



t The natives of Mexico called it gmtlacocffi. I saw some of its 



young leaves with three and five lobes; the full-grown leaves are in the 



form of a heart, and always with three lobes. We never met with tin 



volalv In flower. V * V> ? 



J This is the Gyrocarpus asiaticus of WilldenowX^. * 



| Syroc&rpus sphenopterus, and G. rugosui. . 





