— 6o — 



now almost totally eradicated, but the latter is still largely 

 represented. The natives distinguish three kinds according to the 

 external appearance and odour: fine, common and caraway - linaloe. 

 Fine linaloe has a very delicate and pleasant odour, the common 

 kind less so, and the third resembles caraway. The wood of the 

 linaloe tree is said to be more compact than that of the copal 

 Union , which is characterised as more spongy. The oil which is 

 met with in commerce, is chiefly obtained from the wood of copal 

 Union. This tree, of which Mr. Seyffert unfortunately could only 

 photograph specimens without leaves (see illustration), is very hardy 

 and grows even in very stony soil; although it can most easily be 

 propagated from cuttings, nobody thinks of planting it. The young 

 trees, however, can only be made use of for oil production after 

 about 20 years. It is said that during the last few years oil has 

 frequently been placed on the market, which consisted of a mixture 

 of oils obtained from the wood and from the fruit. The fruit is 

 ripe in September, and forms fleshy, greenish to reddish berries of 

 the size of a Spanish pea (garbanzo)) they are sold by the carga 

 (one carga is about 2 5 / 8 bushels). The yield of oil from the fruit 

 (which is distilled from July to September) amounts to 3 °/ , and is 

 larger than that from the best wood. The fruit is gathered by 

 stripping it off with a crescent - shaped very sharp instrument, care 

 being taken to damage the fleshy part of the berries as little as 

 possible; the oil obtained in the distillation possesses a herbaceous 

 odour, and resinifies very readily. For this reason it is not sold as 

 such, but is mixed with the oil obtained from the wood, which 

 keeps better. In order to increase the quantity and improve the 

 quality of the oil, the Indians used to submit the fruit before the 

 distillation to a kind of fermentation during which the herbaceous 

 odour disappears, by placing the undamaged fruit in cases well 

 covered with sacks, and keeping it thus for 3 to 4 days at a con- 

 stant temperature so as to let the fruit mature (?). 



The oil from the wood is best obtained from trees which are 

 quite old — 40 to 60 years — ; in the case of young trees it is 

 endeavoured to increase the oil - content by cutting notches in the 

 tree, upon which an increased formation of oil takes place, which may 

 be regarded as a pathological product. The tree is treated thus, that 

 strips 16" long and 8" wide are cut out of the bark and the wood 

 down to a depth of 2", and running parallel, or preferably slanting 

 to the direction of the trunk. If it is now found that the tree has 

 a "heart", i. e., yellowish, highly aromatic wood, it can be used at 

 once for distillation. If the tree has no "heart", it is left standing 

 with open wounds so that it may develop "heart". With a view to 

 this, the upper extremity of the notch is cut to a point, in order 



