PALMS. 585 



as if supported on stilts, and a person can stand upright, 

 among the roots of old trees with the perpendicular stem 

 above his head. These roots have the form of straight rods, 

 and are studded with stout thorns, whilst the trunk is quite 

 smooth. The purpose of this curious arrangement is probably 

 to recompense the tree by root-growth above the soil for its 

 inability, in consequence of the competition of neighbouring 

 roots, to extend itself underground. 



Here, too, grows the slender and graceful assai palm, 

 with its perfectly smooth trunk, — the fruit appearing in a 

 heavy cluster of berries just below the cluster of leaves on 

 its summit. The stem is hard and tough as horn, and is 

 much made use of, when split into narrow planks, for the 

 construction of walls and flooring of houses. 



The fruit is about the size of a cranberry, and of a dark 

 brown colour. When boiled and crushed it yields a quantity 

 of juice of about the consistency of chocolate, somewhat of the 

 colour of blackberry juice, when it has a sweetish taste — and is 

 eaten, made into cakes with the flour of the mandioca root. 

 From it also is formed the favourite beverage of the people. 

 To obtain the fruit, the native fastens a strip of palm-leaves 

 round his instep, thus binding his feet together, to enable him 

 to climb the slippery trunk, which he does with wonderful 

 rapidity, to obtain the fruit at its summit. 



Wherever a native village exists, there are seen growing in 

 clusters, beautiful ornaments beside the palm-thatched huts, 

 the tall and elegant pupunha, or peach palm — Guilielma 

 speciosa — to the height of sixty feet, and often perfectly 

 straight. A single bunch of the fruit weighs as much as a 

 man can carry, and on each tree several are borne. It takes 

 its name from the colour of the fruit, not from its flavour or- 



