74 TRANSITION OF INORGANIC INffO ORGANIC MfLTTER. 



carbon and hydrogen, similar to the essence of turpentine. The 

 balsams of Peru and Tolu are obtained by incising the bark of the 

 trees which produce them. In Choco, where I have seen numerous 

 incisions made in the lower part of the trunk of the Tolu trees, the 

 balsam flows slowly, on account of its thickness ; it does not, ap- 

 parently, contain any water. 



SACCHARINE SAPS. 



The sap of the fraxinus amu*, and that of the fraxinus rotundu 

 folia, yield manna on drying or becoming thick. The sap of several 

 palms contains a considerable quantity of saccharine matter. At 

 Java, for instance, crystalline sugar is extracted from the arenga 

 saccharifera. In several places, the sap of palm-trees is subjected 

 to fermentation in order to prepare vinous liquors. 



The Cocos butyracea {palma de vino) is very common in the valley 

 of the Rio-Grande de la Magdalena. From a superficial examina- 

 tion which I made of it, its sap contains sugar, an azotized matter, 

 and some soluble salts. 



By fermentation, it produces a vinous liquor sufficiently alcoholic 

 to produce intoxication. In order to procure it, the natives of 

 Benadillo first fell the tree, taking care, when it is down, to give the 

 trunk a slight inclination from the summit towards the lower extremity 

 or foot. They then make a hole towards the base of the trunk suf- 

 ficiently large to hold from fifteen to eighteen pints, the orifice of 

 which they plug up with leaves. The woody tissue, to all outward 

 appearance, contains but little moisture ; but in ten or twelve hours 

 after the operation, the cavity is found full of a liquid, of a well- 

 marked vinous odor, and of a sourish taste, owing probably to the 

 carbonic acid which is disengaged in large quantity. The wine thus 

 obtained is rather agreeable. A palm-tree of from 50 to 60 feet in 

 height, and of which the trunk towards the base is from 20 to 24 

 inches in diameter, will yield from twenty to thirty pints of wine in 

 twenty-four hours during ten or twelve days. The wine must not 

 be allowed to remain too long after it has collected, otherwise it 

 becomes sour. 



Sugar is far from being the only useful substance afforded by 

 palms. There are several of these trees which are truly astonishing 

 by reason of the many important uses to which they may be applie- ; 

 and it is not without reason that the missionaries have styled the 

 palm, the tree of Providence, the bread of life. Such more espe- 

 cially is the Cocos maurilia, which grows in the plains of the Apure 

 and Oronoko ; its young shoots serve as aliment ; from its fruit, 

 while still green, a farinaceous food may be obtained ; and when 

 perfectly ripe, it yields oil in abundance. Hammocks and various 

 kinds of cloth are made of the fibrous portion of the bark of this 

 tree ; the young leaves serve to make hats, mats, and sails for ships ; 

 the tissue which surrounds the fruit furnishes the Indians with 

 clothing ; the sap ferments and yields wine ; the trunk before fruc- 

 tification contains an amylaceous marrow, of which bread is made ; 

 tki» marrow, on becoming putrid, produces a vast multitude of larg« 



