316 ON THE PRODUCTS OF THE PEA FAMILY. 



they are very disagreeable. They are grown in almost every village, their 

 price being about twopence per dozen. In outward appearance, these fruits 

 somewhat resemble the Souari nut {Caryocar nuciferum) though not so large. 

 Their native name is " Buah namman." Copaiba balsam, so much used in 

 medicine on account of its stimulant, cathartic, and diuretic properties, is 

 procured from several species of Copaifera, though C. multijuga, Hayne, is 

 supposed to be its ehief source. Information is much wanted on this point. 

 Balsam of copaiba is received chiefly from Para and Maranham, though 

 small quantities are imported from the West Indies. It arrives in casks 

 containing from one to one and a half cwts. each. To collect the balsam, 

 incisions are made in the stems, when the liquid is said to pour out in great 

 abundance ; as it exudes it is very thin and quite colourless, but immediately 

 thickens and changes to a clear yellow. In British Guiana the wood of C. pubi- 

 jlora is much used for furniture on account of its beautiful purple colour ; 

 hence, the tree is known as the purpleheart ; it is also invaluable for mortar 

 beds, or where great strength is required, having been found to sustain the 

 shock of artillery with little or no damage. The wood of another species, 

 (C. bracteata) growing in the same country, is likewise much used on 

 account of its strength and durability. It has been suggested that this 

 wood might serve for the ornamental work of ship's cabins, in the place of 

 rosewood, were it better known. The small one-seeded fruits of Dialium 

 Jndicum, L., contain an agreeable acid pulp, which is eaten in Java, and i3 

 there known as the Tamarind plum. In Ceylon, Dialium azcarpum is called the 

 rock tamarind, the pulp being eaten like the former. The fruits of Cudarium 

 acutifolium, Afzl., called in Africa the velvet tamarind, on account of the 

 velvety appearance of its pods, are also used as an article of food. The large 

 drupes of Detarium senegalense, Gmel, are eaten by the natives in Central 

 Africa ; but the seeds are said to be poisonous. On the Gambia, the tree is 

 called " Dattock," and grows to a great size, producing a hard, compact, and 

 apparently durable timber. Mora excelsa, Bth., is one of the most majestic 

 trees of the forest of British Guiana, where it frequently attains a height of 

 100 or 150 feet, and sometimes 50 feet before the appearane of any branches, 

 The wood is very hard, and of great strength and durability. It is one of 

 the woods acknowledged at Lloyd's as first class for ship-building, being 

 considered equal, and in some respects, superior even to oak. Ceratonia 

 siliqua, L., a tree growing in the south of Europe and the Levant, produces 

 the carob bean, which has of late become so common an article of sale in 

 the small shops of the poorer neighbourhoods of London, where children 

 purchase them for the sake of the sweet pulp which surrounds the seeds- 

 It is asserted that singers chew this pulp for improving or clearing the 

 voice. Large quantities of these beans have been imported into this 

 country as food for horses, and it is one of the chief ingredients in the patent 

 cattle foods so much advertised. These beans formed the principal food 

 of our cavalry horses during the Peninsular war. By some they have 

 been thought to be identical with the locusts and wild honey of Scripture, 

 upon which St. John the Baptist fed in the wilderness ; hence the derivation 



