346 



ANNATTO. 



fish into the air. In a few minutes we had five large eels, the greater 

 part of which were but slightly wounded." 



The shops of Para are well supplied with English, French, and Ameri- 

 can goods. The groceries generally come from Portugal. The ware- 

 houses are piled with heaps of India-rubber, nuts, hides, and baskets of 

 annatto. This pigment is made from the seed of a bur, which grows 

 on a bush called urucu in Brazil, and achote in Peru. In the latter 

 country it grows wild, in great abundance; in the former, it is cultivated. 



The seed is planted in January. It is necessary that the ground 

 should be kept clean, the suckers pulled up, and the tree trimmed, to 

 prevent too luxuriant a growth, and to give room, so that the branches 

 shall not interlock. The tree grows to ten or fifteen feet in height, and 

 gives its first crop in a year and a half. It afterwards gives two crops 

 a year. Each tree will give three or four pounds of seed in the year, 

 which are about the size of No. 3, shot, but irregular in shape. They 

 are contained in a prickly bur, about the size and shape of that of the 

 chincapin. 



The burs are gathered just before they open, and laid in the sun to 

 dry, when the seed are trodden or beaten out. The coloring matter is 

 a red powder covering the seed, the principal of which is obtained by 

 soaking the seed in water for twenty-four hours, then passing them be- 

 tween revolving cylinders, and grinding them to a pulp. The pulp is 

 placed in a sieve, called gurupema, made of cotton cloth; water is poured 

 on, and strains through. This operation is repeated twice more, and 

 the pulp is thrown away. The liquor strained off is boiled till it takes 

 the consistence of putty. A little salt is added, and it is packed in 

 baskets of about forty pounds, lined and covered with leaves. It is 

 frequently much adulterated with boiled rice, tapioca, or sand, to in- 

 crease the weight. The price in Para is from three to five dollars the 

 arroba, of thirty-two pounds. 



