4 



WAXDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



Ill a country so extensively covered with wood as 



Trees ^"^^^ having every advantage that a tro- 

 pical sun, and the richest mould in many 

 places, can give to vegetation, it is natural to look for 

 trees of very large dimensions ; but it is rare to meet 

 with them above six yards in circumference. If larger 

 have ever existed, they have fallen a sacrifice either to 

 the axe or to fire. 



If, however, they disappoint you in size, they make 

 ample amends in height. Heedless, and bankrupt in 

 all curiosity, must he be, who can journey on without 

 stopping to take a view of the towering mora. Its 

 topmost branch, when naked with age, or dried by 

 accident, is the favourite resort of the toucan. Many a 

 time has this singular bird felt the shot faintly strike 

 him, from the gun of the fowler beneath, and owed his 

 life to the distance betwixt them. 



The trees which form these far-extending wilds are 

 as useful as they are ornamental. It would take a 

 volume of itself to describe them. 



The green-heart, famous for its hardness and dura- 

 bility j the hackea, for its toughness ; the ducalabali, 

 surpassing mahogany; the ebony and letter-wood, vieing 

 with the choicest woods of the old world ; the locust- 

 tree, yielding copal; and the hayawa and olou trees, 

 furnishing a sweet-smelling resin, — are all to be met Vv^ith 

 in the forest, betwixt the plantations and the rock Saba. 



Beyond tliis rock, the country has been little ex- 

 plored ; but it is very probable that these, and a vast 

 collection of other kinds, and possibly many new species, 

 are scattered up and down, in all directions, through 

 the swamps, and hills, and savannas of ci-devant Dutch 

 Guiana. 



