MiAZIL WOOD. 



187 



to the inferior officers, that they may be quickly 

 dispatched. Here the old system of indifference 

 to what is just still most glaringly continues. 

 This account of the treatment of the men who 

 convey the wood, 1 received from several who 

 had been employed in the business. 



If the trade in the wood was to be laid open, 

 it would only tend to its scarcity still more 

 speedily than under the existing system ; but 

 as soon as it became scarce, it would be ren- 

 dered an object worthy of cultivation : however, 

 as long as it is to be obtained in its wild state, 

 and enormous profits can be made, the govern- 

 ment will probably continue to supply the 

 market on their own account. Every sugar- 

 plantation might cultivate a great number of 

 these trees, without any additional land being re- 

 quired to be cleared for the purpose of plant- 

 ing them. The fences of the Cercados, or fields, 

 might be strengthened by the addition of the 

 Brazil inserted at intervals ; instead of other 

 trees being used in this way. 



I never saw the plant, but I have heard it 

 described in the following manner. It is not 

 i lofty tree ; and at a short distance from the 

 ground, innumerable branches spring forth and 

 extend in every direction in a straggling, irre- 

 gular, and unpleasing manner. Practice is 

 requisite to obtain a knowledge of the tree, for 

 the valuable portion of it is the heart, and the 



