502 The Andes and the Amazons. 



— It is the Cordia excelsa ov frondosa of science, of which 

 there are fo-ur varieties : L.pardo, L.^reto, L. batata, and 

 L. hranco. It is a high tree, with a trunk over sixty feet 

 long and a foot and a half in diameter, alternate leathery 

 leaves and panicled flowers. The light-yellow variety is 

 fragrant, and makes excellent lumber, being largely used 

 in flooring, making tables, doors, etc. The dark-colored, 

 however, is harder, and best for boat - building and the 

 like. 



CuMAEtJ, or " Tonka- wood." — This tree, the leguminous 

 Dipterix odorata, is about forty feet high by twenty inch- 

 es in diameter, growing on the Lower Amazons, and yield- 

 ing fragrant seeds, well known as tonka-beans. The wood 

 is hard, fine-grained, and very durable, and is used for the 

 same piirposes as Jutahi. 



Sapdpiea. — This is an exceedingly rare and precious 

 wood. Its botanical afiinities are unknown to me, but it 

 is probably leguminous. It is a high tree, and the wood, 

 light-brown near the surface, is within deep-brown, thick- 

 ly speckled with yellow. It is so excessively hard and 

 close that it is sometimes turned into goblets and into 

 mortars for pounding coffee. It grows on the Tapajos, 

 Negro, and Solimoens. 



Sapucaya. — This is one of the tallest trees in the Bra- 

 zilian forest, and bears in capsules, having a lid (" Mon- 

 key's Drinking -cups"), very rich edible nuts. It is the 

 Lecythis ollaria, with alternate leaves, showy flowers, and 

 yellowish bark. The wood is light-red, heavy (sp. gr. 1.077), 

 and hard, but not very durable. We have seen branchless 

 trunks fifty feet high. It grows abundantly on the Lower 

 Amazons and Rio Negro. 



Castanheiko, or " Brazil-nut-tree." — This is the Bertho- 

 lettia excelsa, which yields the well-known triangular nuts 

 of commerce. It is one of the noblest trees of the Ama- 



