480 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



fruit rises from the summit of a peduncle, and 

 slioot into four, five, or more C3'Iindrical berries, 

 composed of a row of little acini, something like 

 the common raspberry, which they resemble also 

 in flavour, and are agreeable to most European 

 palates on that account. 



The wood, when dry, readily takes fire by 

 attrition; and from this the native Indians have 

 taken the hint, and kindle their fires in the 

 woods by rubbing a piece of it against some 

 harder wood. The bark is strong and fibrous, 

 and is frequently used for all sorts of cordage. 

 The trunk is very light, and for that reason 

 much used for bark-logs and fishing floats. The 

 smaller branches, when cleared of the divisions 

 inside, serve for wind instruments. Both trunk 

 and branches yield a great quantity of fine salt, 

 which is much used among the French to refine 

 and granulate their sugars. Pigeons and other 

 birds feed readily on the fruit, and thus the tree 

 is extensively propagated. 



Poisonous Trees. The upas tree (antiares 

 toxicariaj, has been fabled to diffuse a poisonous 

 atmosphere around it, which is fatal to all animals 

 tliat come within its influence. There is no 

 truth in this assertion, although the inspissated 

 juice of this tree, which belongs to the natural 

 famUy urticece, is highly poisonous when taken 

 into the stomach. Another, the manchineal tree, 

 is also possessed of a highly acrid and poisonous 

 juice. This tree grows to a vast size on the coasts 

 of the Caribbean islands, and neighbouring 

 continent. The leaves are ovate, serrated, acute, 

 and shining. The fruit falls from the tree spon- 

 taneously, strewing the ground in immense 

 numbers. 



This fruit is highly poisonous. The whole 

 tree abounds with a white milky juice, which 

 is also of an acrid, poisonous quality. If a single 

 drop of this juice falls on the skin, it causes a 

 sensation like the touch of a hot iron, and raises 

 a blister on the part. It is a common belief in 

 that country, that to sleep under its branches 

 will cause death. But Jaquin and his companions 

 proved the fallacy of this, by sitting under it for 

 three hours at a time with impunity. The 

 wood is beautifully variegated with brown and 

 white, and is highly prized for furniture and 

 ornaments. Tlie workmen who fell the trees 

 first kindle a fire round .the stem, by which 

 means the juice becomes so mrich inspissated, as 

 not to flow out when wounds are made with 

 their axes. Whole woods on the sea coast of 

 Martinique have been burnt in order to clear 

 the country of such a dangerous plant. 



The Tallow Tree (croton sehifenim), is 

 remarkable in yielding a substance very much 

 resembling tallow in consistence, in colour, and 

 even in smell. This tree grows abundantly in 

 China, where the inhabitants convert its produce 

 into candles. 



Mr Clarke Abel describes it as being one of 

 the largest, the most beautiful, and the most 

 widely difiiiBed, of the plants found by him in 

 China. He first saw it a few miles south of Nan- 

 kin, whence it occurred in greater or less abun- 

 dance all the way to Canton. " We often saw 

 it," he says, " imitating the oak in the height of 

 its stem, and the spread of its branches. Its 

 foliage has the green and lustre of the laurel. Its 

 small flowers, of a yellow colour, are borne at 

 the ends of its terminal branches. Clusters of 

 dark-coloured seed-vessels succeed them in au- 

 tumn ; and, when matured, burst asunder and 

 disclose seeds of a delicate whiteness." 



The seed-vessels are hard brownish husks, not 

 unlike those of chestnuts, and each of them con- 

 tains three round delicately white kernels, resem- 

 bling in size and shape our ordinary hazel-nuts, 

 but having small stones in the interior. It is 

 the hard white oleaginous substance surrounding 

 these stones which possesses most of the proper- 

 ties of tallow ; but on stripping it off it does not 

 soil the hands. From the shell and stone, or 

 the seed, oil is extracted, so that this fruit pro- 

 duces tallow for candles, and oil for lamps. To 

 obtain its useful extract, the Chinese subject the 

 fruit of the tallow-tree to much the same pro- 

 cess as the seed of the camellia oleifera, or oil 

 plant. It is ground in a trunk of a tree which 

 is hollowed out, shaped like a canoe, lined with 

 iron, and firmly fixed in the ground. Length- 

 ways within this hoUowed trunk there moves 

 backwards and forwards a mill-stone, whose axis 

 is fixed to a long pole laden with a heavy weight 

 to increase the pressure, and suspended from a 

 beam. The pendulum-like motion is given by a 

 man or boy who grasps the pole, and with very 

 little exertion sways it from side to side. Aftet 

 the seed has been thus pounded, it is thrown, 

 with a small quantity of water, into a large iron 

 vessel, exposed to fire, and reduced by heat into 

 a thick consistent mass. It is then put hot into 

 a case consisting of four or five broad iron hoops, 

 piled one above the other, and lined with straw, 

 and then pressed down with the feet as closely as 

 possible till it fills the case. It is then carried 

 to the press. 



Another, and perhaps a more generally adop- 

 ted process is, merely to boil the bruised seed in 

 water, and to collect the tallowy matter that 

 floats to the surface. A certain quantity of some 

 vegetable oil, occasionally in as great a propor- 

 tion as three pounds to every ten pounds pro- 

 cured from the tallow-tree, is mixed up with it. 

 It is not so consistent as tallow, and therefore 

 to promote the better cohesion of the material, 

 the candles made of it are dipped in wax ; this 

 external coating hardens them, and preserves 

 them from guttering. The combustion of these 

 candles is described as being less perfect, jield- 

 ing a thicker smoke, a dimmer light, and con- 



