COTTAGE REPAIRED. 



63 



As I did not, in 1814, suppose that on the 

 following year I should be recalled, I began to 

 make some addition to my cottage, for it was 

 too small for me ; and besides it was old, and 

 was constructed of bad timber, which caused it. 

 to be much infested by the ants and the copim. 

 I had a considerable quantity of timber of ex- 

 cellent quality at Jaguaribe, which had been pre- 

 pared by me for building there, and therefore I 

 determined to send for it. Permission was also 

 obtained from the owner of the Engenho Novo, 

 to cut down some trees in his woods, for which 

 he ultimately refused to be paid. The woods of 

 his plantation came down nearly to the water's 

 edge near to Camboa, and were consequently 

 very conveniently situated for my purpose. The 



ground, it does not take root, and indeed soon rots in any 

 situation. The pens for catching fish are made of posts 

 which are obtained from the forest, and these are scarce and 

 dear. Would not the mangrove be used, if it was sufficiently 

 durable ? 



He speaks afterwards of the mangle rouge, and this from 

 his description appears to me to be what the Pernambucans 

 call the mangue bravo ; this does not grow in salt water, but 

 in the vicinity of it. It is a large tree of irregular make, the 

 branches being much twisted and full of knots. 

 > -""Bolingbroke in his voyage to the Demerary describes the 

 red mangrove as I have seen it, but he says that the bark is 

 gray. In the Third Report of the Directors of the African 

 Institution, p. 8, I find that some notion was entertained in 

 1 809, of introducing the mangrove bark into this country for 

 tanning. 



