Botany. 381 



course, if I had gone up with time at my disposal, I would have seen the 

 trees in spite of all ; for I should have gone into the woods with the col- 

 lectors, and this I hope some time to be able to do. The Gum Benjamin, 

 another great staple here, I saw collected. The trees are about eighteen 

 inches diameter, with small low buttresses to the roots ; these are notched 

 with a chopper, and produce the ordinary quality of the drug. The best, 

 of a light buff colour and dense substance, is procured from wounds in the 

 uncovered larger roots, and the common, or Foot Benjamin, is procured 

 from the trunk of the tree. The oil of the seeds is valued as an applica- 

 tion to boils ; it is probably of little use." — (Letter from James Motley, 

 Esq., in Hooher's Journal of Botany, February 1855.) 



Mora excelsa, a large West Indian Timber tree. — " Prominent among 

 the trees which adorn the forests of Guiana, and which astonish by their pro- 

 fuse verdure and gigantic size, stands the majestic Mora, the king of the 

 forest. Rising to the height of from sixty to ninety feet before it gives 

 out branches, it towers over the wall-like vegetation which skirts the 

 banks of the rivers of Guiana, forming a crown of the most splendid 

 foliage, overshadowing numerous minor trees and shrubs, and hung with 

 Lianas in the form of festoons. The Mora, of all other trees of the forests 

 of Guiana, is peculiarly adapted for naval architecture ; and it is to be 

 found in such abundance, that if once introduced for building material 

 into the dockyards, there can never be any apprehension there would be 

 a want of that timber which could not be supplied. The wood is uncom- 

 monly close-grained, and gives scarcely room for a nail when driven into it. 

 When cleared of sap, it is durable in any situation, whether in or out of 

 the water. With this property it unites another of equal consideration 

 to builders ; it is strong, tough, and not liable to split, has never been 

 known to be subject to dry-rot, and is considered, therefore, by the most 

 competent judges, to be superior to oak and African teak, and to vie in 

 every respect with Indian teak. The full-grown tree will furnish logs 

 from thirty to forty, or even to fifty feet in length, and from twelve to 

 twenty-four inches square, taken from the main stem, whilst the remain- 

 ing portions are suited to various purposes of naval architecture ; such, 

 for instance, as keels, keelsons, stern-posts, floors, ribs, beams, knees, 

 breasts, backs, &c." Thus wrote Sir Robert Schomburgk fifteen years 

 ago (Transactions of the Linnwan Society, vol. xviii. p. 207) ; and, in 

 the same volume, that there might be no difficulty of distinguishing the 

 tree in the search for it in other countries, Mr Bentham, from specimens 

 sent by Sir Robert, published an excellent figure and botanical history, 

 under the name of Mora excelsa ; for it had previously no place in bo- 

 tanical works. It belongs to the natural order of Leguminosce, and to 

 the same group or section as the well-known Cassias. Yet it does not 

 appear that the attention of any of our authorities or travellers has been 

 directed to the commercial importance of this tree till very recently. The 

 same tree has been found to prevail in certain localities of the island of 

 Trinidad. — (Hooker's Journal of Botany , March 1855.) 



Vegetable Oils in the Amazon and Rio Negro Districts. — Spruce re- 

 marks, that vegetables yielding oils abound in the Rio Negro district. 

 Nearly all the palm- fruits yield oil ; but the bright vermilion fruit of 

 Elais melanococca, or Caiaue palm, furnishes it in very large quantity. 

 Various species of OEnocarpus, which abound on the Amazon and Ori- 

 noco, are oil-bearing. The oil procured from (Enocarpus Bataua, which 

 forms forests in the Rio Negro, is called Patana oil by the Indians, and 

 resembles much that procured from olives. Raphia toedigera, the Jupati 

 palm, has a very oleaginous fruit, and its leaf-stalks can be used as flam- 

 beaux. Andiroba-oil is the produce of Carapa guianensis. Bertholletia 



NEW SERIES. — VOL. I. NO. IT. — APRIL 1855. 2 C 



