SOUTH AMERICA. 5 



towering mora. Its topmost branch, when naked FIRST 



JOURNEY. 



with age, or dried by accident, is the favourite - 

 resort of the toucan. Many a time has this sin- 

 gular bird felt the shot faintly strike him, from 

 the gun of the fowler beneath, and owed his life to 

 the distance betwixt them. 



The trees which form these far-extending wilds, 

 are as useful as they are ornamental. It would 

 take a volume of itself to describe them. 



The green-heart, famous for its hardness and 

 durability ; the hackea, for its toughness ; the 

 ducalabali, surpassing mahogany; the ebony and 

 letter-wood, vicing with the choicest woods of the 

 old world; the locust-tree, yielding copal; and 

 the hayawa and olou-trees, furnishing a sweet- 

 smelling resin, are all to be met with in the forest, 

 betwixt the plantations and the rock Saba. 



Beyond this rock, the country has been little 

 explored ; but it is very probable that these, and 

 a vast collection of other kinds, and possibly many 

 new species, are scattered up and down, in all 

 directions, through fhe swamps, and hills, and 

 savannas of ci-devant Dutch Guiana. 



On viewing the stately trees around him, the 

 naturalist will observe many of them bearing 

 leaves, and blossoms, and fruit, not their own. 



The wild fig-tree, as large as a common Eng- The wild 



fig-tree. 



lish apple-tree, often rears itself from one of the 

 thick branches at the top of the mora ; and 

 when its fruit is ripe, to it the birds resort for 



