140 



rises to the height of fifty feet ; the branches 

 are placed opposite each other by fours, in the 

 form of a cross ; the leaves are large^, alternate, 

 and like those of the laurel ; the flowers are 

 white, quadripetal, and very odoriferous ; the 

 berries oval, and of a changeable black and blue. 

 Like the cinnamon of Ceylon, this tree produces 

 two barks ; the exterior of a greenish brown, 

 the other, when first taken from the tree, is of a 

 dirty white, but when dry, becomes of the colour 

 of the true cinnamon, which it very much re- 

 sembles in taste, and in Feuille's opinion might 

 serve as a succedaneum for it.* I am of the 

 same sentiment, particularly if proper attention 

 were paid to the cultivation of it, which would 

 probably tend to correct that sharp taste which 

 reuders it unpleasant. The natives employ the 

 ti-nber for building, but make no use of the bark. 

 The Araucanians from time immemorial have 

 regarded the boighe as a sacred tree; in iheir 

 religious ceremonies Ihey carry branches of it ia 

 their hands, and when they conclude a peace, 

 they present them in token of amity and alliance, 



drymis, and appears to be (lie same with that described b\ 

 the Chevalier de la iNlark, under the name of drymis punctata. 

 iV. Trans. 



* The bark of the boighe may be applied to the same 

 nst's as ihc ciiinanioii; its smell is similar, and it acquires the 

 sunie cok'ur when it is dried. ftudllc, vol. iii. 



