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boy busy gathering the fruit into a neat creel with a jointed pole 

 like a fishing rod, nipping off the stalk of the ripe nuts by two 

 claw-like prongs with which the tip of his rod was armed, when 

 they dropped into a little basket-like cage worked to the stem a 

 few inches below. He came and showed us his basket full of 

 beautiful fruit in its pale yellow shell, half of which is left on. in 

 which was nestling the dark brown nut embroidered with its deep 

 lake mace. 



" Further on we came on one of the plantation houses, where 

 a large number of men and women were peeling the mace, drying 

 it in the sun, and packing both in boxes. These cases are all 

 made of one size, carefully finished and caulked, and form as de- 

 lightful an article of cargo as could be wished. None but a trade 

 de luxe would befit an island so ornate and so wonderfully 

 situated as Banda. Its produce, grown in beautiful bowers, is 

 gathered up round its umbrageous shores in long gaudily-painted 

 canoes, andin whose preparation or shipment not one hand-soiling 

 operation is required ; its atmosphere is charged with aromatic 

 exhalations, its wharfs and streets are the picture of tidiness, and 

 the very water that laps its coral shores is brighter and purer 

 than almost anywhere else in the world." {Myristicece.) 



81. Myroxylox Pereir.e, Klotzsch. — The Balsam of Peru is obtained 

 from this tree, a native of Salvador in Central America. After 

 the rains the trunk of the tree is beaten on four sides with some 

 blunt instrument until the bark is loosened, leaving four inter- 

 mediate strips untouched in order to preserve the life of the tree. 

 Six days afterwards lighted torches are applied to the injured 

 bark to promote an abundant flow of balsam. After seven or 

 eight days more the charred bark is removed. Rags are then 

 placed on the wood, taken away as they become saturated with 

 the balsam, and boiled in water until the balsam sinks to the 

 bottom, the impurities being skimmed off. The second year tie 

 balsam is obtained from the bark previously untouched. Tie 

 bark is renewed in two years, so that a tree yields a constant sup- 

 ply. The balsam possesses stimulant and expectorant proper- 

 ties. {Leguminosce). 



-82. Myroxylox toluiferum, II. B. 8f K — The Balsam of Tolu pos- 

 sesses similar properties to those of the Balsam of Peru. The 

 tree from which it is extracted grows to a height of 80 feet, nearly 

 double that of the other balsam tree. It is a native of New 

 Grenada. The mode of collecting is to make Y-shaped cuts in 

 the bark to the wood, when the balsam exudes and collects in a 

 calabash placed at the bottom of the cut. The collection goes on 

 from July to March. (Leguminosos.) 



S3. Xapoleoxa imperialis, Beauv. — This is a small tree, native of 

 western tropical Africa. The structure of the flower is interesting. 

 The corolla consists of three rows : the outer is of a rich claret colour 

 with a cream or apricot-coloured margin ; it is divided into 5 

 lobes, each lobe with 6 or 7 ribs, spreading from the base like a 



