15G THE PALMS OF AMERICA. 



Maw'iiia fle.viiosa, the Moriche, Quieteva, or 

 Ita palm, is another of the South American 

 pahns, belonging to that section of the palm 

 tribe \vhich includes the genera Sagus and 

 Calamus, already described. It is an elegant 

 species, ^vith a trunk twenty-six feet high, 

 which size it probably does not attain to in less 

 than a hundred and twenty or a hundred and 

 fifty years. Linna3us has erroneously described 

 it as being destitute of leaves. It frequents the 

 mountains of Ronaima, near the source of the 

 Orinoco, up the slope of which it is found 

 as high as 4,263 feet. It is also found at 

 the mouth of the Orinoco, on the delta of that 

 river. It delights in moist ground, forming fine 

 groups of a fresh and shining verdure, remind- 

 ing us of that of our alders. These trees pre- 

 serve the moisture of the ground by their 

 shade, and hence the Indians believe that the 

 IMauritia draws water around its roots by some 

 mysterious attraction. By one writer it lias 

 been called "the tree of life," and it may 

 perhaps not inaptly be so termed with respect 

 to one tribe, the Guarancs, an unsubdued race 

 who live near the moulh of the Orinoco, and 

 subsist on this tree. We are told that when, 

 in consequence of their increasing numbers, 

 they became overcrowded, they not only built 



