we again found a Frenchman, at whose house 

 we passed the first night, and who received 

 us with the kindest hospitality. He was a 

 native of Lyons ; had left his country at a very 

 early age ; and appeared extremely indifferent 

 to all that was passing beyond the Atlantic, or, 

 as they say here, disdainfully enough for Eu- 

 rope, " on the other side of the great pool" 

 (del otro lado del charco). Our host was em- 

 ployed in joining large pieces of wood by means 

 of a kind of glue called guayca. This substance, 

 used by the carpenters of Angostura, resembles 

 the best glue extracted from the animal king- 

 dom. It is found perfectly prepared between 

 the bark and the alburnum of a creeper* of 

 the family of the combretacece. It probably 

 resembles in it's chemical properties birdlime, 

 the vegetable principle obtained from the ber- 

 ries of the mistleto, and the internal bark of 

 the holly. An astonishing abundance of this 

 glutinous matter issues from the twining branches 

 of the vejuco de guayca when they are cut. 

 Thus, we find within the tropics a substance 

 in a state of purity, and deposited in peculiar 



* Combretum guayca. It might be thought, that the 

 name of chigommier, given by botanists to the different spe- 

 cies of combretum, has an allusion to this glutinous matter; 

 but the name is derived from chigouma (combretum laxum, 

 AubL), a word of the Galibi or Caribbee language. 



