iiS WONDERS OF THE TROPICAL FORESTS. 
feet and a half above groimcl on one side of tlie honsej and 
stick up four -stakes at each corner, to fasten their curtains, 
out of which there is no sleeping for rtiosquitoeg. Another 
frame they mise, covered with earth, for a hearth, to dress 
their victuals ; and a third to sit at, when they eat it. 
Daring the wot season, tho land where the logwood grows 
ia so overflowed that they step from their Ijeds into the 
water, perhaps two feet deep, and continue standing in the 
wet all day till they go to bed again ; but, neverthelesSj 
account it the best season for doing a good day's labour in. 
Some fell tlie trees, others saw and cut them int-o convenient 
logs, and one chips off the bark, and he is commonly the 
principal man ; and when a tree is so thick that after it 
ia logged it remains still too great a bnrden for one man, 
it h blown np with gunpowder. The logwood-cutters are 
genemlly sturdy strong fellows, and will carry burthens of 
three or four hundredweight. In some places they go a- 
hunting wild cattle every .Saturday to provide themselves 
with beef for the week following. When they have killed 
a beef they cut it into quarters, and taking out the bones, 
each man makes a hole in the middle of his quarter, just 
big enough for his head to go through, then puts it on like 
a frock and trudgeth home; and, if lie cbancetb to tire, he 
cuts off some of it and throws it away." 
The entire freedom from all restraint which accompanied 
this wild and adventurous life had such charms for Darapier's 
bold and roving spirit, that he sojourned for about a year 
among the rude wowl-cutters of Cam peachy, and left them 
with the intention of again returning for a longer stay. 
Most of the red dye-woods are furnished by the Ctesal- 
pinias, a genus of plants belonging to the widespread 
family of the Leguminosie, and indigenous in both hemis- 
pheres. The C. cf kia^ which furnishes the best quality, 
commonly known under the name of Brazil wood, grows 
profusely in the forests of that vast empire, preferring dry 
places and a rocky ground. Its trunk is large, crooked, 
and full of knots J at a short distance from the ground 
