TREES. 



39 



they are mostly of an inferior nature to 

 those which take root in some firmer ground 

 than the rich alluvial soil of the lower 

 country. The great cotton-tree is left be- 

 hind, or only met with near the moist banks 

 of large rivers ; the bannyan is unknown near 

 the hills ; but the mahogany, ebony, lignum 

 vitae, iron- wood, guanacaster, guyacan, and 

 many other most valuable woods, are to be 

 had in any quantities, but will probably for 

 hundreds of years to come be of use to no 

 one except to the hut-builders, on account of 

 the distance and difficulty of transport to 

 the coast. 



The enormous cedar,* without a branch 

 for a great height, is as common as the oak 

 is in Hampshire, and so it will remain, as 

 there is no one to cut it ; there are some near 

 the coast and lake of Nicaragua, where they 

 are used for canoes and piraguas, but they are 

 neither so fine nor abundant as in the hilly 

 country ; in short, a treasure in woods of all 

 description is as much lost to the people 



* The Royal Cedar, as the Spaniards call it, is a 

 different tree from the Cedar of Lebanon. The wood is 

 almost without knots, very hard, and was much valued 

 for ship and boat building. Many of the large canoes 

 are hollowed out of a single tree. 



