276 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



branch intended for a layer, which is generally 

 several inches thick, is wrapt in a straw band, in 

 which horse dung is laid, and which is five or six 

 times as thick as the branch. A circtdar incision, 

 down to the wood, is made below the band, and 

 water is made to fall upon it, from a considerable 

 height, through a vessel with very small holes, 

 generally a cocoa-nut shell. The branch soon puts 

 forth filaments, and in a short time has such a 

 strong bunch of roots, that in about two months, 

 the wood may be sawed through, and the young 

 tree planted in the ground, when it immediately 

 begins to blossom, and bears, as a separate indi- 

 vidual, the fruits which it promised as a branch. 

 The Chinese also show knowledge which corre- 

 sponds with our notions of the growth of trees in 

 this particular, that in order to procure plants that 

 will sooner come to maturity, they prefer the upper 

 and thinner branches, but to have better and 

 more productive layers, they choose the stronger 

 branches, nearer to the ground. 



The physiognomy of the Chinese colonists was 

 particularly interesting to us, and was in the sequel 

 still more so, because we thought we could per- 

 ceive in them the fundamental lines, which are re- 

 marked in the Indians. The figure of the Chinese 

 is, indeed, rather more slender, the forehead broader, 

 the lips thinner and more alike, and the features in 

 general more delicate and mild than those of the 

 American who lives in woods ; yet the small, not 

 oblong, but roundish, angular, rather pointed head, 



