156 ANOTTA. 



said that in dry weather, birds and other animals 

 repair to them for drink. 



I forgot to mention to you, that the dye, called 

 Anotta, is obtained from the berries of a tree be- 

 longing to the first order of this class, called Bix'a 

 Orella'na, a native of the East and West Indies. 

 The Mexicans employ the anotta, which affords a 

 bright orange colour, in staining wood and in 

 drawing; and it is used in England to give a 

 colour to cheese. The bark makes good ropes for 

 common purposes ; and the wood is much used by 

 the American Indians for procuring fire, which 

 they do by rubbing pieces of it together. 



EDWARD. 



You promised once to tell me a story of a poor 

 Indian woman, who suffered a great deal because 

 she did not know this way of making a fire. 



MOTHER. 



I did so ; and as we have finished our thirteenth 

 class you shall hear it now, though it has no im- 

 mediate relation to Botany, because it shows the 

 value of knowledge and ingenuity in time of dis- 

 tress. I read the account in Hearne's Journey to 

 the Northern Ocean. 



When some of Hearne's companions were hunt- 

 ing in one of the wildest parts of North America, 

 they observed the track of a strange snow-shoe. 



