BY VICENTE DE CERVANTES. 235 



Lastly Mr. Fresnau acquaints the Royal Aca- 

 demy of his having found in Aprouage, and on 

 the banks of the Maturini river, a great qaantity 

 of the true Poa Siringa, which, from his more 

 circumftantial description, can be no other than 

 Jatropha elastica of Linnaeus. 



From this digression I return to the Ule-tree, 

 which, in commemoration of the merits of the late 

 indefatigable Don Juan del Castillo, I have 

 named Cast ilia.* 



NATURAL CHARACTER OF CASTILLA. 



Masculi Flores. 



Cal. Perianthium hemisphsericum monophyllum 

 imbricatum, squamis ovatis acutis. 



"a native of Brazil particularly Para, is culled MassaraJub ; that the 

 *« Indians extract from it, by incisions in the bark, a viscous white sub- 

 «• stance like what conies from fig-trees, which they receive into earthen 

 " moulds to make squirts to play with in carnival time, as also boot?, 

 " hat», figures of animals, &c." The sketch is taken from a drawing in 

 the possession of Mr. Whi te head, which was sent from Brazil. T. 



"Don Juan del Casti l lo, a native of jaca in the kingdom of 

 Aragon, was sent to Porto-Rico, when 27 years of age, as first botanist to 

 the Royal Hospital, in this island. This province he held with great 

 exertion for seventeen years, when government appointed him, together 

 with other naturalists, to examine the natural productions of Mexico, 

 where he died the »6thof July, 179 - having attained the age ef 49 yearr 



