THE FOREST EESOUECES OF THE WORLD. 65 



North of the Rio de la Plata in Uruguay one finds small forests of 

 no commercial value along the rivers, but they supply the needs of 

 the few people who live there. 



An entirely different picture is presented in Paraguay, whose 

 slopes toward the Parana River are covered with almost impene- 

 trable forests. On the slopes toward the Paraguay River are the 

 settlements; here is open grass land, and only the hills, as a rule, 

 are wooded. According to a statement, which, however, needs con- 

 firmation, there are seventy kinds of woods which are commercially 

 useful, two of which, lapacho and quebracho, were used by the Jesuits 

 in constructing their missions and are still well preserved in the 

 ruins. Fifteen kinds of trees yield dyewoods, and eight yield fibers. 



The forests of Brazil cover an area equal to one-half of Europe. 

 The Amazon flows for a distance of 1,860 miles through a virgin 

 forest which stretches 1,100 miles from east to west and 750 miles from 

 north to south, and occupies an area of 825,000 square miles. Many 

 of the Brazilian woods have excellent properties. The following are 

 among the most valuable: Pernambuco (Csesalpinia echinata), fustic 

 {Ohlowphora tinctoria), both of which occur only near the coast; Jaca- 

 randa, ironwood (Csesalpinia ferrea) , and cedar (Cedrela hrasiliensis). 

 The forests yield other valuable products, as rubber, Brazil nuts, 

 Paraguay tea, guarana, gums, and resins. 



Guiana is relatively just as rich in forests as Brazil, especially 

 British Guiana, which has the advantage of four large rivers which, 

 with their tributaries, are very suitable for floating logs. For this 

 reason the exploitation of these forests has advanced further than in 

 any other part of the country. British Guiana furnishes two of the 

 most valuable trees for shipbuflding — greenheart {Nectandra rodesei) 

 and mora (Dimorphandra mora). Greenheart is the more important, 

 and is so hard that it nicks the axes of choppers and wfll last for 

 over one hundred years in water. Dutch Guiana has a very impor- 

 tant wood in the purpleheart (Copaifera puhiflora Benth.), which is 

 suitable for the use of wheelwrights. French Guiana has a very 

 important wood, the so-called violet wood (Bois violet — Copaifera 

 puoiflora Benth.), which is especially suited for woodworking. 



Venezuela is for the most part a prairie. Its most extensive forests 

 are found on the lower course of the Oronoco River. The home pro- 

 duction hardly exceeds the home consumption, the only wood that is 

 exported being Zygophillum arhorea. 



Colombia, though partially a prairie State, possesses more forests 

 than Venezuela. The exports, however, are insignificant because of 

 lack of transportation facilities. Ecuador and Peru are in the 

 mountain region of the Andes, and have exceptionally duxuriant and 

 extensive forests, which are, however, entirely inaccessible. Both of 

 them import wood from North America. 



The northern part of Chile has no forests. Forests are found only 

 in the south, beginning at San Jago, especially in the provinces of 

 Arauco, Valdivia, and Chiloe, but are rapidly disappearing, not on 

 account of any great drain upon them for home consumption or 

 export, but because the land is needed for agriculture. The forests 

 are burned and treated by the people as an enemy, as was the case in 

 this country at the time of the earliest colonization. 

 55826°— Bull. 83—10 5 



