388 SOME NOTABLE TREES. 



shaped projections around the lower part of their stems. The spaces 

 between these buttresses, which may be compared to thin walls of 

 wood, form spacious chambers, like stalls in a stable ; some of them 

 large enough to hold half-a-dozen persons. " The purpose of these 

 structures," says Mr. Bates, " is as obvious at the first glance, as that 

 of the similar props of brickwork which support a high wall. They 

 are not peculiar to one species, but are common to most of the larger 

 forest trees. Their nature and manner of growth are explained when 

 a series of young trees of different ages is examined. It is then seen 

 that they are the roots, which have raised themselves ridge-like out 

 of the earth ; growing gradually upwards as the increasing height of 

 the tree required augmented support. Thus they are plainly intended 

 to sustain the massive crown and trunk in these crowded forests, 

 where lateral growth of the roots in the earth is rendered difficult by 

 the number of competitors." 



Among other remarkable inhabitants of the Brazilian wilderness, 

 we may name the lofty Moira-tingu,* the Samauma,-f and the Mas- 

 saranduba or Cow tree.* The Eriodendron Samaiima, or Silk-cotton 

 tree, holds in the New World the same position as the Bombax in the 

 Old. It rises to an enormous stature without branches, and then 

 spreads out a glorious mass of foliage. The bark is light in colour; 

 and the capsule pod contains a large quantity of down, of a brown 

 tint, and exquisite silky softness. The Massaranduba is also called 

 the Palo de Vacca, the Arbor de Lacte, the Galactodendron utile, or 

 the Cow tree. Its bark furnishes an abundant supply of milk as 

 pleasant to drink as that of the cow. If exposed to the air it thickens 

 into a glue, which is excessively tenacious, and often employed to 

 cement broken crockery. The tree has a wild, strange appearance, 

 owing to its deeply scored, reddish, and rugged bark, a decoction of 

 which is used as a red dye for cloth. 



Did our readers ever hear of the Pashiuba, or bulging-stemmed 

 palm ? It is not one of the tallest kinds, for its height, when full 



* Order, Leguminosx ; tribe, Mimosa?, f Order, Sterculiacese. 



I Order, Urticaccx. '6 Iriartea Ventricosa. 



