THE AMAZON VALLEY. 303 



equally scarce. On the Javita road, on the Upper Rio Negro, 

 I observed the same thing. On the Uaupes, I once sent 

 my Indians into the forest to obtain a board of a particular 

 kind of tree ; they searched for three days, and found only a 

 few young trees, none of them of sufficient size. 



Certain kinds of hard woods are used on the Amazon and 

 Rio Negro, for the construction of canoes and the schooners 

 used in the navigation of the river. The difficulty of getting 

 timber of any one kind for these vessels is so great, that they 

 are often constructed of half-a-dozen different sorts of wood, 

 and not alv/ays of the same colours or degrees of hardness. 

 Trees producing fruit, or with medicinal properties, are often 

 so widely scattered, that two or three only are found within a 

 reasonable distance of a village, and supply the whole population. 

 This peculiarity of distribution must prevent a great trade in 

 timber for any particular purpose being carried on here. The 

 india-rubber and Brazil-nut trees are not altogether exceptions 

 to this rule, and the produce from them is collected over an 

 immense extent of country, to which the innumerable lakes 

 and streams offer a ready access. 



The chief district from which india-rubber is procured, is in 

 the country between Para and the Xingu. On the Upper 

 Amazon and the Rio Negro it is also found, but is not yet 

 collected. 



The Brazil-nuts, from the Bertholletia excelsa, are brought 

 chiefly from the interior ; the greater part from the country 

 around the junction of the Rio Negro and Madeira with the 

 Amazon rivers. This tree takes more than a whole year to 

 produce and ripen its fruits. In the month of January I 

 observed the trees loaded at the same time with flowers and 

 ripe fruits, both of which were falling from the tree ; from these 

 flowers would be formed the nuts of the following year ; so that 

 they probably require eighteen months for their complete 

 development from the bud. The fruits, which are nearly as 

 hard and heavy as cannon-balls, fall with tremendous force 

 from the height of a hundred feet, crashing through the 

 branches and undergrowth, and snapping off large boughs 

 which they happen to strike against. Persons are sometimes 

 killed by them, and accidents are not unfrequent among the 

 Indians engaged in gathering them. 



The fruits are all procured as they fall from the tree. They 



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