428 



DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



and which accounts for the great quantity of copal found in 

 Angola and other parts of Western Africa, where it is dug 

 out of the sandy or marly soil in lumps. As there is but 

 scanty tree vegetation, none of Avhich at the present time is 

 found to produce gum, it is called fossil copal, and is no 

 doubt the produce of some unknown tree that grew there at 

 some remote period. 



Gum Copal of Zanzibar is obtained from Trachijlohium 

 Hornemannianum. A tree allied to the preceding. The 

 gum exudes from the branches, and is, with the former, 

 imported to this country, as Gum Anime, and used for 

 varnishing. It is also found abundantly in a fossil state 

 in the same country where no trees now exist. The beau- 

 tiful substance called amber, generally thrown up by the sea, 

 is no doubt the produce of some copal trees, which at some 

 remote period became submerged. 



Zamang (Pithecolobium Saman). A large tree, native of 

 Venezuela, first brought to notice by Humboldt, who says: 

 " In the evening we saw something in the distance which we 

 took for a mountain, but on near approach found it to be a 

 tree, the famous Zamang of the natives." Its head was 

 hemispherical, having a circumference of 526 feet, the total 

 height being 60 feet, and the diameter near the ground 9 feet. 

 The age of the tree is calculated by Humboldt to be the 

 same as that of the Dragon tree of Oratava, but this is 

 very questionable, for according to the rate of growth of 

 young trees or seeds taken from the Venezuelan tree and 

 planted in the Botanic Garden, Trinidad, in 1820, it appears 

 to be a fast growing tree, for in little more than forty years 

 they attained the girth of 15 feet The leaves of the Zamang 

 are compound-winged, the leaflets being about the size of Ash 

 leaflets. Its thick flattish pods about 8 inches in length and 

 1 in width, contain a sweetish pulp and are in common use 

 for feeding cattle. 



Sab cu Timber {Lysiloma Sahicu). A large tree, native 

 of Cuba, yielding planks from 4 to 5 feet in width ; it is 

 highly valued for ship-building, and has been extensively im- 



