NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
CHAP. 
7000 to 9000 feet elevation, and the species are 
trees of humble growth, bearing large yellowish- 
green edible drupes known as Ciruelas de fraile 
(Friar's plums). In cultivation the fruits are mostly 
seedless, and in that state are sometimes brought 
for sale to Ambato and other towns. The seed 
is described in books as poisonous, and if it be 
really so, then it is the only instance, so far as I 
know, of the existence of any hurtful principle in 
the entire family of Malpighiads, always excepting 
that of the Caapi. Yet strong poisons may lurk 
undiscovered in many others of the order, which is 
very large, and (the twining species especially) of 
great sameness of aspect ; and the closely-allied 
Soapworts (Sapindacese) contain strong narcotic 
poisons, especially in the genus Paullinia. 
I obtained a good many pieces of stem, dried 
them carefully, and packed them in a large box, 
which contained botanical specimens, and dispatched 
them down the river for England in March 1853. 
The man who took that box and four others on 
freight, in a large new boat he had built on the 
Uaupes, was seized for debt when about half-way 
down the Rio Negro, and his boat and all its con- 
tents confiscated. My boxes were thrown aside in 
a hut, with only the damp earth for floor, and re- 
mained there many months, when my friend Senhor 
Henrique Antonij, of Manaos, whom I had advised 
by letter of the sending-off of the boxes, heard of 
the mishap, and succeeded in redeeming them and 
getting them sent on to the port of Para. When 
Mr. Bentham came to open them in England, he 
found the contents somewhat injured by damp and 
mould, and the sheets of specimens near the bottom 
