74 



mas with fine purple flowers, the costuses, and 

 other plants of the family of the amomums, here 

 attain eight or ten feet in height, and their 

 fresh and tender verdure, their silky splendour, 

 and the extraordinary developement of the pa- 

 renchyma, form a striking contrast with the 

 brown colour of the arborescent ferns, the 

 foliage of which is so delicately shaped. The 

 Indians made incisions with their large 

 knives in the trunks of the trees, and fixed 

 our attention on those beautiful red and 

 golden yellow woods, which will one day be 

 sought for by our turners and cabinet makers. 

 They showed us a plant of the family of the 

 compositae twenty feet high, (the eupatorium 

 Isevigatum of la Marck,) the rose of Belve- 

 ria *, celebrated for the brilliancy of it's purple 

 flowers, and the dragon's-blood of this country, 

 which is a kind of croton not yet described, 

 the red and astringent juice of which is employ- 

 ed to strengthen the gums. They recognize 



* Brownea racemosa, Bredera. ined. 



+ Plants of families entirely different are called in the 

 Spanish colonies of both continents sangre de drago ; they 

 are dracaenas, pterocarpi, and crotons. Father Caulin, 

 (Descri. Corografica, p. 25,) in speaking of resins found in 

 the forests of Cumana, makes a just distinction between the 

 drago de la sierra de Unare, which has pinnate leaves, (ptero- 

 carpus draco) and the draco de la sierra de Paria, with entire 

 and hairy leaves. This last is our croton sanguifluura of 

 Cumanacoa, Garipe, and Cariaco. 



