432 



SPICES AND TEAaRANT WOODS. 



the village of Zurtila, in the intendancy of Oaxaca, on the eastern 

 slopes of the Cordillera of Anahuac, between the parallels of 19 deg. 

 and 20 deg. JN". All the vanilla which is used in Europe is im- 

 ported from Mexico, Venezuela, and Vera Cruz. 



It is a native of tropical America, and grows wild in Erazil, 

 Peru, the banks of the Orinoco, and all places where heat, shade, 

 and moisture prevail. There are many species indigenous to the 

 Bahamas, Trmidad, Jamaica, Cuba, Dominica, Martinique and 

 St. Vincent, which would produce considerable gain to the 

 inhabitants if they would give themselves the trouble of cultivating 

 or collecting its fruit. 



This parasitical plant has a trailing stem, not unlike the common 

 ivy, but not so woody, by which it attaches itself to the trunks of 

 trees, and sucks the moisture which their bark derives from the 

 lichens and other cryptogamia, but without drawing nourishment 

 from the tree itself, like the misletoe and loranthus. The Indians 

 in Mexico propagate it by planting cuttings at the foot of trees 

 selected for that purpose. It rises to the height of 18 or 20 feet ; 

 the flowers are of a greenish yellow, mixed with white. The plant 

 is subcylindrical about eight or ten inches long, of a yellow color 

 when gathered, but dark brown or black when imported intoEurope. 

 It is one-celled siliquose, and pulpy within, wrinkled on the out- 

 side, and full of a vast number of seeds like grains of sand, having 

 when properly prepared, a peculiar and delicious fragrance. It 

 should be gathered before it is fully ripe. 



Different species of vanilla are natives of Guiana, and it is found 

 in large quantities along the banks oi its rivers, and in the 

 wooded districts which intersperse the savannahs. The oily and 

 balsamic substance which the minute seeds possess, may be 

 found to have medicinal qualities. Its cultivation can be 

 connected with no difficulties; it needs only to plant the slips 

 among trees, and to keep them clear of weeds. It would prove 

 therefore a great addition to a cocoa plantation. In 1825 the price 

 was, in Grermany, sixty-six dollars (equal to £9) per pound, and 

 twenty-five to thirty dollars are paid for it in Martinique. 



Humboldt states that the annual value of vanilla exported from 

 the state of Vera Cruz was 40,000 dollars, £8,000 sterhng. Some 

 vanilla is exported from Maranham. The cultivation of vanilla, 

 w^hich was introduced into J ava in the year 1847, is said to have 

 made considerable progress, there being now no fewer than thirty 

 plantations. 



The fruit of this orchideous plant is entirely neglected in the 

 province of Caracas, though abundant crops of it might be gathered 

 on the humid coast betw^een Porto Cabello and Ocumare, especially 

 at Turiamo, where the pods attain the length of nearly a foot. The 

 English and American merchants often seek to make purchases 

 at the port of La Guayra, but with difficulty procure it in small 

 quantities. 



In the valleys that descend from the chain of coast towards the 

 Caribbean sea, in the province of Truxillo, as well as in the mission 



