ROTH] GUMS, WAX, OILS, PIGMENTS 87 
with olive oil, retailing the whole as ‘olive oil,’’ from which indeed 
even the best judges can scarcely distinguish it (RS, 1, 479). 
Lecythis zabucajo Aubl. (SR, 11, 338).—Sapucaya or Paradise nut. 
Eugenia catinga Aub]. (= Catinga moschata Aubl.) (SR, m1, 338). 
Myristica sebifera Sw.—When thrown into boiling water the seeds 
supply a vegetable tallow which is used in the colony for candles 
(SR, 1, 338). 
There are two palms, which I have been unable to identify, 
mentioned by Gumilla as yielding an admirable oil. These are the 
veserri and cunama (G,1r, 263). The fruit of the veserri is eaten by 
some nations, but others place them on the fire to boil, and extract 
from them a large quantity of very pure oil, utilized both for oint- 
ments and for food. From the cunama fruit, which the Indians call 
abay, they extract an oil comparable with that of olives. It serves 
the Indians for unguents and the Spaniards for food and lighting 
purposes (G, 1, 249). 
So also with cunuri and uacu. From the seeds of these two trees, 
apparently undescribed on the Alto Rio Negro, Orinoco, Casiquiari, 
Pacimoni, etc., the Indians prepare a paste resembling cream cheese 
in appearance and taste. The seeds are first boiled and then steeped 
for some days under water, after which they are broken up by the 
hand. In the boiling, a quantity of oil is said to be collected. . . . 
T first saw one of these trees (the cunuri, a Euphorbiacea allied to 
the india-rubber tree, but with simple leaves) near San Gabriel. . . . 
The other tree, whose products are quite similar to those of the 
cunuri, is called uacti (RS, 1, 480). 
There is no evidence that the Indians ever manufactured coconut 
oil for themselves. 
26. Turtle-egg oil for ages past has constituted a very important 
item in the way of domestic use, trade, and barter, both on the 
Orinoco and the Amazon, its manufacture in these areas being 
practically similar. Gumilla, on the Orinoco, has described the 
process of manufacture as follows: They call these turtle tereciya 
After carefully washing, cleaning, and drying, they place 
quantities of the eggs in canoes, wherein young boys trample on 
them just as on our side the grapes are trodden upon to express the 
juice. When sufficiently filled the mass is exposed to the sun’s rays 
and after a little while a very thin, clear, oily liquor rises to the sur- 
face. During this process each of the women places her large earthen 
pan on the fire, whilst the men, with thin shells devised for the pur- 
pose, skim the surface of the oil, which is next placed in the pans, 
where it is boiled and purified. It is finally stored in vessels (G, 1, 
292-298). 
Bates has left us the following account as witnessed by him on 
the upper Amazon: When no more eggs are to be found, the mashing 
