332 



tribute this difference to the shelter afforded by 

 the palm-trees, in preventing the solar rays from 

 drying and burning up the soil. I have seen, it 

 is true, trees of this family in the forests of the 

 Oroonoko spreading a tufted foliage; but we 

 cannot boast of the shade of the palm-tree of 

 the Llanos, the palma de cobija*, which has 

 but a few folded and palmate leaves, like those 

 of the chamaerops, and of which the lowermost 

 are constantly withered. We were surprised to 

 see, that almost all these trunks of the corypha 

 were nearly of the same size. They were from 

 twenty to twenty-four feet high, and from eight 

 to ten inches diameter at the foot. Nature has 

 produced few species of palm-trees in such pro- 

 digious numbers. Amid thousands of trunks 

 loaded with fruit of the shape of an olive, we 

 found about one hundredth part without fruit. 

 Are there some trees with flowers purely 

 monoecious, mingled with others furnished with 

 hermaphrodite flowers ? 



The Llaneros, or inhabitants of the plains, 

 believe that all these trees, though so low, are 

 many centuries old. Their growth is almost 

 imperceptible, being scarcely to be noticed in 

 the lapse of twenty or thirty years. The wood 

 of the palma de cobija is excellent for building. 



* Roofing (or co\ering) palm-tree: corypha tectorum. See 

 above, p. 186. 



