
11 
“ corn, which destroys bots, and wonderfully recruits the animals’ flesh 
“ and strength. 
“ It is so abundant jn this island that it may be collected annually, 
“ in large quantities, for exportation, if there was a deman it a 
“ the home market ; and it seems to merit this encouragement, as it has 
“ been thought by very able physicians to be superior in eflicacy to 
“ 


XXVII.—INTRODUCTION OF THE BRAZIL NUT TO 
THE EAST INDIES AND AUSTRALIA. 
(Bertholletia excelsa, Humb.) 
The plant yielding the common Brazil nuts of commerce is a lofty 
tree, locally known as “ Castanea,” native of the forests of Guian 
enezuela, und Brazil. It grows gregariously in large forests, and 
belongs to the tribe Lecythidee of the natural order Myrtacee. The 
Brazil nuts form an important article of commerce, and about 70,000 
bushels are annually imported into this country and used chiefly for 
ds A 
times called Pará nuts. The best nuts, styled “ bold Mangos Brazils,” 
which command the highest prices, come from Mandos, an inland town 
name 
The nuts ripen and fall from the trees in ebruary and March, and 
fresh nuts arrive in Europe in May and June, 
While the nuts are largely exported they are also extensively 
used in Brazil, but chiefly as food by the Indians; the Tapejos, 
for example, subsist largely upon them. The oil contained in the 
kernels is used loca y, and to a small extent in commerce, 
it is 
scarcely known under cultivation outside the tropics of the New World. 
i n 
