SANTA BAEBAEA. 131 



virgin forest, and was waving with banana* trees — the 

 most useful plant to the inhabitants of the tropics. Like 

 the cereals of northern latitudes, it has accompanied man 

 at every step of his progress in these southern climes, and 

 every cottage rests beneath the shade of its banana-trees. 

 It is a herbaceous plant, growing almost spontaneously, 

 with a stem that attains a height of ten to twelve feet, 

 crowned by a cluster of silky, shining leaves, six to eight 

 feet long, and a foot in width. These are extremely deli- 

 cate and easily torn transversely by the winds, so as to 

 hang in narrow strips from the midvein, resembling pinnate 

 leaves. The plant, which comes to maturity in about 

 twelve months, produces a single cluster of fiiiit, when 

 the stem dies and new shoots start from its base, several 

 of which are allowed to grow, so that banana-trees are 

 generally in clusters, upon some of which fruit may always 

 be found. No other plant yields so great an amount of 

 nutriment from the same extent of soil, producing, accord- 

 ing to the estimate of Humboldt, twenty times as much 

 as corn, forty-four that of potatoes, and one hundred and 

 thirty-three times more than wheat. 



At Santa Barbara we received our first introduction to 

 gnats {simulium), which were afterward such a source of 

 annoyance as we ascended the cataracts of the Orinoco. 

 They are known to the Spaniards by the name of mosqui- 

 toes (diminutive flies), while our insects of that name 

 {ctclex) are called by them sancudos, signifying long- 

 legged. The sting of these minute insects is painful, and 

 leaves a dark spot, caused by the coagulation of blood be- 

 neath the skin where the proboscis pierces. These marks 

 are exceedingly lasting : we retained traces of them for 



* We use the word banana popularly as a generic term including 

 several species : the plantain {Musa paradisiasa), dorainico (J/, regia)^ 

 caraburi (J/, rosacea), are the species most generally cultivated. 



