290 The Andes and the Amazon. 



pulps. They also reach a larger size in advancing west- 

 ward. The common Brazil nut is the product of one of 

 the tallest trees in the forest {Bertholletia excelsa). The 

 fruit is a hard, round shell, resembling a common ball, 

 which contains from twenty to twenty-four nuts. Eight- 

 een months are required for the bud to reach maturity. 

 This tree, says Humboldt, offers the most remarkable ex- 

 ample of high organic development. Akin to it is the 

 Sapucaya or " chickens' nuts" {Lecythis swpucaya)^ whose 

 capsule has a natural lid, and is called " monkey's drink- 

 ing-cup." The nuts, about a dozen in number, are of ir- 

 regular shape and much richer than the preceding. But 

 they do not find their way to market, because they drop 

 out of the capsule as soon as ripe, and are devoured by 

 peccaries and monkeys. The most luscious fruit on the 

 Amazon is the atta of Santarem. It has the color, taste, 

 and size of the chirimoya ; but the rind, which incloses a 

 rich, custardly pulp, frosted with sugar, is scaled. E"ext in 

 rank are the melting pine-apples of Para, and the golden 

 papayas, fully equal to those on the western coast. This 

 is the original home of the cacao. It grows abundantly in 

 the forests of the upper river, and particularly on the banks 

 of the Madeira. The wild nut is smaller but more oily 

 than the cultivated. The Amazon is destined to supply the 

 world with the bulk of chocolate. The aromatic tonka beans 

 (Cumarii) used in flavoring snuff, and the Brazilian nutmegs 

 (Puxiri), inferior to the Ceylon, grow on lofty trees on the 

 Xeo^ro and Lower Amazon. The Guarana beans are the 

 seeds of a trailing plant ; from these the Mauhes j)repare the 

 great medicine, on the Amazon, for diarrhoea and. intermit- 

 tent fevers. Its active principle, caffeine, is more abundant 

 than in any other substance, amounting to 5.07 per cent. ; 

 while black tea contains only 2.13. Coffee, rice, tobacco, and 

 sugar-cane are grown to a limited extent. Rio Negro coffee, 



