244 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



emit a similar fragrance. The seed is a kind of 

 berry about the size of a peppercorn ; when ripe and 

 fresh, it is white interspersed with minute rough 

 black spots. This berry contains a small stone, 

 nearly round, enveloped in a substance apparently 

 similar to wax, differing only in being somewhat 

 drier and more friable*. Toscan, in ' L'Ami de la 

 Nature,' gives a minute description of the manner in 

 which this vegetable wax is obtained by the Louisi- 

 anians. 



The berries come to maturity at the latter end of 

 autumn, and are then in a fit state for the extraction 

 of their wax. Those persons who make it their 

 business to collect and prepare this substance, then 

 proceed to a place on the sea-coast, or to some island, 

 where they know, from experience, the tree is to be 

 found in abundance. In these expeditions a man is 

 generally accompanied by all his family, whom even 

 to the youngest children he can make useful. As 

 the occupation usually requires three or four weeks 

 for its completion, he is obliged to go supplied 

 with all that is necessary for the daily wants of him- 

 self and his companions during that period. He 

 likewise takes care to furnish himself with a number 

 of vessels, of suitable capacity and material, for the 

 purpose of boiling the berries. With all these im- 

 pediments to "celerity, their progress is necessarily 

 slow and prolonged. When, at length, the little troop 

 halts at an eligible situation for gathering their 

 harvest, the first care of the father is to provide a 

 shelter for his family, for which purpose he diligently 

 sets about constructing a hut with palm-leaves. 

 While he is engaged in this preliminary labour, 

 his wife and children are not idle : they are 

 actively employed in gathering the berries, of which 

 all the trees around are soon deprived. When the 

 * Aimales de Chimie. 



