BRAZILIAN NUTS. 157 



the Alps, in Switzerland, the lower hill on the opposite side 

 reminding me of the Jura. 



Now, in those hillj regions, there are extensive grazing 

 grounds, and very large herds might be raised there. It will 

 one of these days be the pastoral district of the Amazon, and 

 there will be, probably, the rural district of the country, when 

 the raising of cattle has become a regular occupation. At 

 Erer^, a little village among those hills, I have tasted mutton as 

 good as I ever tasted in New England, showing that the quality 

 of the grass is favorable to the raising of animals ; and that 

 region, owing to its hilly character, is so temperate that it would 

 form a most desirable place for agricultural settlements. 



You know the Brazilian nuts which come to us from that 

 country. They grow on one of the most majestic trees known 

 in creation. The tree which bears the Brazilian nut is one of 

 the giants of the vegetable kingdom. It belongs to the myrtle 

 family, and its appearance is very peculiar. It grows like a 

 large, closely formed pyramid, and towers above all the other 

 trees of the forest. That and the Sumanmeira, form the two 

 choicest trees in the Amazonian region, and are the trees which 

 give character to the forest and the landscape. Tlie Suman- 

 meira, which is a kind of mallow, rises above the forest in the 

 shape of a tall stem, at the height of eighty and more feet, 

 frequently having a diameter of ten or twelve feet, and its 

 crown spreading like an umbrella over the forest ; so that, from 

 a distance, these flat-topped trees give one the impression of 

 umbrellas in a crowd, on a rainy day, one spreading over the •' 

 other. These trees give a peculiar character to a part of the 

 forest, and between them, we have these close cones of dark 

 green foliage, which are the Brazilian nut trees. There are no 

 two trees so impressive as these. The Brazilian nut is a large 

 nut, not unlike our ordinary walnut in external appearance, 

 only the bark is somewhat smoother, about the size of your 

 two fists, and containing some twenty or thirty or more nuts 

 inside. Now, all the products of that tree which come into the 

 market are merely the accidental gatherings from the ground. 

 Hardly anywhere is the tree cultivated ; it is only what is 

 gathered by chance off the ground, which is brought to market. 

 In two places only on the Amazon have I seen cultivated nut- 

 trees, and these had been planted for ornament in front of houses. 



