318 1UE CINNAMON OF THE ORINOCO. 





of small rocks rise from the plain. These form massy 

 prisms, ruined pillars, and solitary towers fifteen or twenty 

 feet high. Some are shaded by the trees of the forest, 

 others have their summits crowned with palms. These 

 rocks are of granite passing into gneiss. At the confluence 

 of the Vichada the rocks of granite, and what is still more 

 remarkable, the soil itself, are covered with moss and lichens. 

 These latter resemble the Cladonia pyxidata and the Lichen 

 rangiferinus, so common in the north of Europe. We could 

 scarcely persuade ourselves that we were elevated less than one 

 hundred toises above the level of the sea, in the fifth degree 

 of latitude, in the centre of the torrid zone, which has so 

 long been thought to be destitute of cryptogamous plants. 

 The mean temperature of this shady and humid spot pro- 

 bably exceeds twenty-six degrees of the centigrade thermo- 

 meter. Reflecting on the small quantity of rain which had 

 hitherto fallen, we were surprised at the beautiful verdure 

 of the forests. This peculiarity characterises the valley 

 of the Upper Orinoco ; on the coast of Caracas, and in the 

 Llanos, the trees in winter (in the season called summer in 

 South America, north of the equator) are stripped of their 

 leaves, and the ground is covered only with yellow and 

 withered grass. Between the solitary rocks just described 

 arise some high plants of columnar cactus (Cactus septem- 

 angularis), a very rare appearance south of the cataracts of 

 Atures and Maypures. 



Amid this picturesque scene M. Bonpland was fortunate 

 enough to find several specimens of Laurus cinnamomoides, 

 a very aromatic species of cinnamon, known at the Orinoco 

 by the names of varimacu and of canelilla* This valuable 

 production is found also in the valley of the Bio Caura, as well 

 as near Esmeralda, and eastward of the Great Cataracts. 

 The Jesuit Francisco de Olmo appears to have been the 

 first who discovered the canelilla, which he did in the 

 country of the Piaroas, near the sources of the Cataniapo. 

 The missionary Grili, who did not advance so far as the 

 regions I am now describing, seems to confound the vari~ 

 tnacu, or guari/macu, with the myristica, or nutmeg-tree of 

 America. These barks and aromatic fruits, the cinnamon, 

 fche nutmeg, the Myrtus pimenta, and the Laurus pucheri, 

 * The diminutive of the Spanish word canefa, which signifies ?iiinamon. 



