32 THE GEOdRAPUICAL DlSTniBUTION 



soras of palms are in fact greater than can well 

 be conceived : and, in our own case, vie were 

 made peculiarly sensible of this, in consequence 

 of having directed our attention especially to 

 palms, grasses, cyperaceaj, and numerous other 

 subjects hitherto much neglected. Most of the 

 palms flower only once a year, and this period, 

 near the equator, is generally about the months 

 of January and February. How few travellers 

 are likely to be in the region of palms precisely 

 during this season ? The period of blossoming 

 of particular trees is often limited to a few days, 

 and the traveller commonly finds, on his arrival 

 in the region of palms, that the blossoms have 

 passed away, and that the trees present only 

 fructified ovaries and no male flowers. In an 

 area of 32,000 square miles, there are often not 

 more than three or four species of palms to be 

 found. "Who can possibly, during the brief 

 period of flowering, simultaneously visit the 

 various palm regions near the missions on the 

 Rio Caroni, in the Morichales at the mouth of 

 the Orinoco, in the valley of the Caura and 

 Erevato, on the banks of the Atabapo and llio 

 Negro, and on the declivity of the Duida? 

 There is, moreover, great difhculty when the 

 trees grow in thick woods or on swampy shores 

 (as at the Tcmi and Tuamini) in reaching the 



