Amazon Trees. 289 



before the new leaf -buds expand ; the giant Samaiima, or 

 silk-cotton tree (called huwiba in Peru) ; the Calabash, or 

 cuieiraj whose gourd-like fruit furnishes the cups used 

 throughout the Amazon ; the Itauba, or stone-wood, furnish- 

 ing ship-timber as durable as teak ; the red and white Ce- 

 dar, used for canoes (not coniferous like the northern ever- 

 green, but allied to the mahogany) ; the Jacaranda, or rose- 

 wood, resembling our locust; Palo de sangre, one of the 

 most valuable woods on the river; Huacapii, a very common 

 timber ; Capirona, used as fuel on the steamers ; and Tauari, 

 a heavy, close-grained wood, the bark of which splits into 

 thin leaves, much used in making cigarettes. The Piassa- 

 ba, a palm yielding a fibre extensively manufactm-ed into 

 cables and ropes, and exported to foreign countries for 

 brushes and brooms, being singularly elastic, strong, and 

 more durable than hemp ; and the Moira-pinima, or " tor- 

 toise-shell wood," the most beautiful wood in all Amazonia, 

 if not in the world, grow on the Upper Rio Negro. A 

 small willow represents the great catkin family. 



The valley is as remarkable for the abundance, variety, 

 and value of its timber as for any thing else. Within an 

 area of half a mile square, Agassiz counted one hundred and 

 seventeen different kinds of woods, many of them eminently 

 fitted, by their hardness, tints, and beautiful grain, for the fin- 

 est cabinet-work. Enough palo de sangre or moira-pinima is 

 doubtless wasted annually to veneer all the palaces of Europe. 



While most of our fi'uits belong to the rose family, those 

 of the Amazon come from the myrtle tribe. The deli- 

 cious flavor, for which our fruits are indebted to centuries 

 of cultivation, is wanting in many of the torrid produc- 

 tions. We j)refer the sweetness of Pomona in temperate 

 climes to her savage beauty in the sunny south. It is a 

 curious fact, noticed by Herndon, that nearly all the valua- 

 ble fruits of the valley are inclosed in hard shells or acid 



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