52 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



each a flora peculiarly their own ; nay, every 

 river, and sometimes each tributary stream, has 

 a different vegetation. No language can de- 

 scribe the glory of the forests of the Amazon 

 and Brazil, the endless variety of forms, the 

 contrasts of colour and size ; there even the 

 largest trees bear brilliant blossoms : scarlet, 

 purple, blue, rose-colour, and golden yellow, 

 are blended with every possible shade of green 

 An impenetrable and everlasting vegetation 

 covers the ground ; decay and death are con- 

 cealed by the luxuriance, of life ; the trees are 

 loaded with parasites when alive ; they become 

 masses of living plants when they die." 



Many parts of the coasts of Venezuela and 

 Guiana are covered by woods of mangroves, 

 hvicennias, and the manchineel, with the un- 

 healthy exhalations so peculiar to the places 

 these trees select in such climates. The cocoa, 

 or chocolate tree, (Tlieobroma cacao,) grows wild 

 in Guiana, Mexico, and the east of the Caraccas ; 

 it is now cultivated extensively, and as far 

 south as Chili, and also in the Canary arid 

 Phillippine Islands. Whole forests of it occur 

 in Demerara. It bears a fruit something like a 

 short cucumber, full of seeds, which are the 

 chocolate nuts. It is now very extensively 

 used, and more than ever. 6,444,204 pounds 

 were imported into this country in 1848, of 

 which 2,935,479 pounds were entered for home 

 consumption, and 1,604,813 pounds exported to 

 other places. But the quantity consumed in 

 England is trifling compared with that required 



