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with a certain quantity of water, foams like soap, 

 and is as efficacious in cieansing woollens and other 

 kinds of cloth. A very considerable commerce is 

 carried on with this bark ; the Peruvians particularly 

 import every year great quantities of it. 



The lithi (laurus caustica) a species of middle 

 sized laurel, is scattered over the whole coimtry. 

 Its leaves are oval, wrinkled, an inch in length, and 

 of a dark green; the flowers, though much smaller, 

 and the fruit resemble those of the common laurel. 

 The effluvium from this tree, especially in summer, 

 produces painful pustules and swellings on the hands 

 and faces of those who stop beneath its shade. This 

 effect is various, however, with various persons: 

 there are some who are very little, if at all, incom- 

 moded by it, while others who merely pass by the 

 tree are severely afíected ; though never atten- 

 ded with fatal consequences, it is nevertheless very 

 troublesome. Great precaution is requisite in cut* 

 ting the tree, as its viscous juice is extremely caus- 

 tic ; but when dry the wood loses all its injurious 

 qualities, and is employed for building. Its colour 

 is a handsome red veined with brown, and it ac- 

 quires, after having been for some time under water, 

 a very great degree of hardness, which might render 

 it very useful in ship building.* There is another 

 large tree which I have reason to believe is truly 



* The iithi is a tree very proper for building ships ; it is cut 

 with great care when it is green, but when dry, particularly if it 

 has been for some time under water, the wood becomes almost as , 

 hard as iron. It is employed by the natives in building their houses. 

 Its colour when first cut is white, but v/hen it is dried and seasoned 

 it changes to a very handsome red.— i^c-mV/^''* »/úí¿r^. 



