XXVII] 



DR. SPRUCE 



73 



Cashew, &c. &c. Purple or almost black fruits, often with a 

 bloom on them, are found in many genera of Palms ; in the 

 delicious little sloe-like fruits called Umiri (species of Humi- 

 rium) ; in the Cocuras — exquisite grape-like fruits hanging in 

 dense bunches from little trees of the order Artocarpeae 

 {Poitruma cecropicefolia, P, rettisa, P. apicidata Sec). Among 

 the smaller Palms (Bactris and Geonoma) some have bright 

 red, others black fruits. Papaws have the fruit yellow in the 

 species of the plain ; in the mountain species greenish, although 

 some of the smaller ones have scarlet fruit. Myrtles (the 

 berried species, all of which have innocuous, although not 

 many sapid fruits) have in the great majority of Amazon 

 species, black-purple fruits ; in some they are red and often 

 intensely acid ; in others yellow, &c. 



"Succulent fruits with a russet or grey coat are not 

 numerous on the Amazon. There, as elsewhere, they owe 

 that peculiarity to the cuticle minutely breaking up and 

 withering, yet still more or less firmly persisting. Of this 

 class are the very fine and large fruits called Cuma in the 

 Tupi language, yielded by two Apocyneous trees of the Rio 

 Negro {Couma triphylla and 61 dulcis) and one of the Orinoko 

 (C. ohlongce). The thickish russet rind contains seeds nestling 

 in copious pulp, which eats rather like the fruit of the Medlar 

 or Service, although far sweeter, whence the Portuguese 

 colonists called the tree Sorveira. The bark abounds in 

 thick, sweet and wholesome ! milk, which is excellent glue. 



" As the Greengage (whose coat is sometimes partly russet- 

 grey) is the finest among European plums, so is the homely- 

 coloured Cuma among all the fruits of the Rio Negro. 



" I think I could count on my fingers (if I exclude the 

 melon-tribe) all the edible green drupes and berries of the 

 Rio Negro. The chief of them are the Alligator-pear and 

 some Custard-apples, although some of the latter have a 

 yellow, some a white, and some a red-purple rind." 



Then among other home and private matters comes the 

 remark equally appropriate now, " What an awful state the 

 country is getting into ! * War and wasteful expenditure ' 

 seems to be the key-note of our Government." 



