VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. 
188 
ing nature. Numerically considered, the varieties of the palm 
are very great ; but the diversity of its useful purposes is not 
less so. We find, for instance, one kind yielding substitutes for 
bread and yeast, another sugar and wine, a third oil and vinegar ; 
a fourth milk and wax ; a fifth resin and fruit ; a sixth medicines 
and utensils ; a seventh weapons and cordage ; an eighth paper 
and clothing ; and a ninth habitations and furniture. 
Remote from the river margins, the limit of the periodic 
overflow is more particularly marked by the presence of plants 
which are of a fine and cellular tissue, and by trees of greater 
value, as the sivietenia mahogani, the cedrela odorata, one or 
two varieties of the oak, "guapaque" {ostrya mexicana), the 
lignum-vitcB, " chico-zapote," " quiebra-hacha," and the " acacia 
the growth of all which, though more protracted than the vege- 
tation of the bottom lands, is nevertheless favored by the pecu- 
liar adaptation of the soil and the predominance of silica. In a 
pecuniary point of view the value of these products is immeas- 
urable, especially that which would result from the felling of 
mahogany and cedar alone. These trees, which often reach a 
diameter of five and six feet, are so abundant on the Atlantic 
slope that the Indians select only the trunks, which are often- 
times cut several feet above the ground to avoid the curl and 
twist of the grain. Notwithstanding the occasional shipments 
of wood from the Isthmus, there are still many trees the value 
of which has yet to be determined. These are generally timbers 
of great specific gravity, a circumstance which, considering the 
inefficient means of transportation, has hitherto prevented their 
introduction to market. Indeed, the abundance of these and 
other building timber of equivalent value, is such that the only 
limit which can be assigned to the supply they may yield is the 
demand for centuries to come. 
Not less important in value, perhaps, is the siphonia elastica, 
or india-rubber tree, which is found in astonishing numbers 
throughout the forests that skirt the tributary streams. Its value, 
however, is so little appreciated there, that the gum is only gath- 
ered for foot-balls, or for some few medicinal purposes. The 
process of extracting the gum is accomplished by tapping, not 
belting, the tree. Two incisions are made through the bark, one 
