513 



into round cakes of three or four ounces weight* 

 When turtles' oil is wanting, some nations mix 

 with the onoto the fat of the crocodile. 



Another pigment, much more valuable, is ex- 

 tracted from a plant of the family of the bigno- 

 niae, which Mr. Bonpland has made known by 

 the name of hignonia chica *. The Tamanacks 

 call it craviri ; the Maypures, chirraviri. It 

 climbs up and clings to the tallest trees by the 

 aid of tendrils. It's bilabiate flowers are an inch 

 long, of a fine violet colour, and disposed by 

 twoes or threes. The bipinnate leaves become 

 reddish in drying. The fruit is a pod, filled 

 with winged seeds ; and is two feet long. This 

 bignoniaceous plant grows spontaneously, and in 

 great abundance, near Maypures ; and in going 

 up the Oroonoko, beyond the mouth of the Gua- 

 viara, from Santa Barbara to the lofty mountain 

 of Duida, particularly near Esmeralda. We 

 also found it on the banks of the Cassiquiare. 

 The red pigment of chica is not obtained from 

 the fruit, like the onoto, but from the leaves 

 macerated in water. The colouring matter 

 separates in the form of a light powder. It is 

 collected, without being mixed with turtles' oil, 

 into little loaves eight or nine inches long, and 

 from two to three high, rounded at the edges. 



* Plantes Equinoxiales, vol. i, p. 108, pi. xxxi. Gili M 

 Saggio, vol. i, p. 218. 



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