HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



41 



teen men on horfeback could conveniently enter. We 

 are given a ftill flronger idea of its capacity from a tefti- 

 mony even fo refpe6lable as his Excellency D. F. Loren- 

 zana, formerly Archbifhop of Mexico, now of Toledo. 

 This Prelate, in the annotations which he made on the 

 letters of Cortez, to Charles Vth. and printed in Mexico, 

 in 1770, attefls that having gone himfelf, in company 

 with the Archbifliop of Guatemala and the Bifliop of 

 Angelopoli, to view that celebrated tree, he made one 

 hundred young lads enter its trunk. 



The Ceibas, which I faw in the maritime province of 

 Xicayan may be compared with this famous fir. The 

 largenefs of thefe trees is proportioned to their prodigi- 

 ous elevation, and they afford a mofl: delightful profpect 

 at the time they arc adorned with new leaves and load- 

 ed with fruit, in which there is inclofcd a particular fpe- 

 cies of white, fine, and mofl delicate cotton. This might 

 be, and actually has been made into webs as foft and de- 

 licate, and perhaps more fo, than filk (r) ; but it is toil- 

 fome to fpin, on account of the fmalinefs of the threads, 

 and the profit does not requite the labour, the web not 

 being lading. Some ufe it for pillows and mattreffes 

 which have the fingular property of fwelling enormxOully 

 when expofed to the fun. 



Amongfi: the great many trees worthy of notice for 

 their peculiarities, which I am however obliged to look 

 over, I cannot omit a certain fpecies of wood-fig, which 



Vol. I. F grows 



(r) De Bomare fays, that the Africans make of the thread of the Ceiba, the 

 vegetable taiTety, which is fo fcarce, and fo much elleemed in Europe. I do not 

 wonder at the fcarcity of fuch cloth, confidering the difficulty of maldng it. The 

 name Ceiba is taken, like many others, from the language which was fpoken in 

 the ifland Haiti, or San Domingo. The Mexicans call it, Pochotl ; and many 

 Spaniards Pochote. In Africa it has the name of Benten. The Ceiba, fay$ the 

 above author, is higher than all the trees hitherto known. 



