308 THE CANNON-BALL TREE. 



That is like the Genipa, the fruit of which in its fall is 

 said to crack upon the ground with the report of a pistol, and 

 to give notice to the land crabs, who immediately hasten to 

 the tree to seek a repast one of those innumerable modes 

 by which Providence attracts the animal to the food upon 

 which it is destined to live, and gives, in endless variety, 

 *' the means proportioned to the end." 



ESTHER. 



There is also the Cannon-ball tree, (Couroupita Guianensis] 

 belonging to the same order as the Brazil nut, which grows 

 in the dense forests of Cayenne, and the fruit makes a similar 

 noise in falling, whence the tree derives, in some measure, its 

 name. But it also has procured this appellation from the 

 fallen pericarp, or fruit, which strew the ground, exhibiting 

 the scar or hole by which they were attached to the stalk, 

 and which so closely resemble the cannon shell, that one 

 might easily, at first sight, imagine that a company of artille- 

 ry had bivouacked in its shade. 



HENRIETTA. 



Is -the tree large? 



ESTHER. 



It is from fifty to sixty feet high, and covered with a pro- 

 fusion of brilliant scarlet flowers, which are highly fragrant. 

 The fruit are round, and from four to eight inches in diameter; 

 when cut and ripe they diffuse a most intolerable odor, but, 

 in a less mature state, the pulp is employed to afford a refresh- 

 ing drink in fevers. The shell is used in South America for 

 the same purpose as the Calabash (Crescentia cujete.}* 



MRS. F. 



The shell of the Calabash sometimes constitutes the sole 

 article of furniture of the Carib Indians. By ligatures 



* Hooker, Botanical Magazine. 



