46 



PARA 



and manner of growth are explained when a series of young 

 trees of different ages is examined. It is then seen that 

 they are the roots which have raised themselves ridge- 

 like out of the earth ; growing gradually upwards as the 

 increasing height of the tree required augmented support. 

 Thus they are plainly intended to sustain the massive 

 crown and trunk in these crowded forests, where lateral 

 growth of the roots in the earth is rendered difficult by 

 the multitude of competitors. 



The other grand forest trees whose native names we 

 learnt, were the Moira-tinga (the White or King-tree), 

 probably the same as, or allied to, the Mora excelsa, which 

 Sir Robert Schomburgk discovered in British Guiana ; 

 the Samauma (Eriodendron Samauma) and the Massar- 

 anduba, or Cow-tree. The last-mentioned is the most 

 remarkable. We had already heard a good deal about 

 this tree, and about its producing from its bark a copious 

 supply of milk as pleasant to drink as that of the cow. 

 We had also eaten its fruit in Para, where it is sold in the 

 streets by negro market women ; and had heard a good 

 deal of the durableness in water of its timber. We were 

 glad, therefore, to see this wonderful tree growing in its 

 native wilds. It is one of the largest of the forest monarchs, 

 and is peculiar in appearance on account of its deeply- 

 scored reddish and ragged bark. A decoction of the bark, 

 I was told, is used as a red dye for cloth. A few days 

 afterwards we tasted its milk, which was drawn from 

 dry logs that had been standing many days in the hot 

 sun, at the saw-mills. It was pleasant with coffee, but 

 had a slight rankness when drunk pure ; it soon thickens 

 to a glue, which is excessively tenacious, and is often used 

 to cement broken crockery. I was told that it was not 

 safe to drink much of it, for a slave had recently nearly 

 lost his life through taking it too freely. 



In some parts of the road ferns were conspicuous ob- 

 jects. But I afterwards found them much more numerous 

 on the Maranham-road, especially in one place where the 

 whole forest glade formed a vast fernery ; the ground 

 was covered with terrestrial species, and the tree trunks 

 clothed with climbing and epiphytous kinds. I saw no 

 tree ferns in the Para district ; they belong to hilly 

 regions ; some occur, however, on the Upper Amazons. 



Such were the principal features in the vegetation of 

 the wilderness ; but where were the flowers ? To our 



