121 



ûcacia nilotica, but differ in being attached with- 

 out peduncles to the boughs, which they com- 

 pletely cover, and their odour is so very fragrant 

 that they are denominated aromas. The pod is 

 from three to four inches long; it is cylindrical, of a 

 dark brown, and contains many oval seeds marked 

 with a yellow stripe ; these are enveloped in an as- 

 tringent mucilage, from which a vely good ink is 

 made. The caven grows spontaneously in all the 

 midland provinces, chiefly between the 24th and 37th 

 degrees of latitude, where its wood serves as fuel. 

 It is more natural to the richest soils, and frequently 

 grows to the height of an oak. The wood is hard 

 and compact, of a dark brown veined with black and 

 yellow, receives an excellent polish, and is used by 

 several kinds of artisans for the handles of their tools. 



The quillai (quiliaja saponaria, gen. nov.*) derives 

 its name from the Chilian word quillca?!, to wash. The 

 trunk of this tree exceeds the middle height, and is 

 covered with a thick bark of a greyish ash colour ; 

 it divides itself at the top into two or three branches, 

 which produce leaves like thosè of the ever-green oak ; 

 its flowers are also furnished with stamina, but the seed 

 is enclosed in a quadrangular capsule. The wood 

 of the quillai is very hard and does not easily split, 

 for which reason the country people make use of it 

 for stirrups. But what renders this tree really valua- 

 ble is the bark, which, when pulverised and mixed 



* The quillai is a tree whose leaves resemble those of the ever- 

 green oak. The bark ferments in water like soap, aiid is preferable 

 to it for the washing of woollen cloth, but is apt to ^iv« linen a 

 yellowish hu€» — Fr(iz^ç,r'^ Voyage, vol. i. 

 .1, S, 



