OKj A TKIP TO THE MAI^’EAKD. 
21 
bird also described to us as being equally good for the table was 
of similar appearance to the last but much smaller. It is called 
the ^^Coco qualm Both these birds are, I think, mentioned by 
Belt in The Naturalist in Nicaragua” as abounding in the dis- 
tricts which were the scene of the labours of that able and en- 
thusiastic naturalist. Numerous other birds were seen, of all sizes 
and colours, in fact, to the sportsman or naturalist as well as to 
the Botanist there was plenty of material to occupy their undi- 
vided attention. 
We had by this time approached the ^‘The Bapids” which 
consisted of deep whirling eddies or pools interspersed with rocky 
and shingly shallow banks over which but little water was run- 
ning. The deepest part of the shallows was always chosen for 
the passage, and the canoe bad to be hauled over by ropes 
provided for the purpose. No sooner were we out of one difficulty 
than we were into another, the principal danger lying in sunken 
trees, which in the thick muddy water, caused by the previous 
day’s downpour, were hard to detect. After passing the first of 
these, we again came into deep water, with rapids of various 
strength at intervals of one or two miles apart, but they were all 
passed successfully and we reached Jessy Town about noon. It 
was situated at a junction of two rivers, down which a number of 
Indians had come to meet us. These people were universally 
short in stature but very athletic and robust and appeared to us 
to be inoffensive, peaceable and docile, but it is possible we saw 
their best side only. Both men and women were painted on the 
cheeks in different patterns in which squares and diamonds pre- 
dominated, done in red and black paint. On enquiry I found 
that they manufactured the black themselves from a fragrant kind 
of gum (extracted from one of the native trees) called ‘^Bontapee 
which appeared to resemble the Gtum Elemi of commerce. 
The special tree afiording this latter product is a matter of 
considerable doubt. Griesbach describes it as the produce of a 
Dominican tree named Daciiyodes hexandra, Gr., while other 
authors give it, as being obtained from Amyris balsamifera, L., 
and allied species. Of the genus Dacryodes, Benth and Hook, in 
Gen. Plant, say, ‘^Genus imperfecte cognitum” ; so that it would 
appear to be evident that at present little is known as to the tree or 
its product. If the gum should prove to be produced by 
Jamaican trees, it will add another to the list of minor products 
which are in process of development, and if opportunity aiises 
for inquiry into the subject, in the interest of cultivators gener- 
ally it will not be lost sight of. There are three species of 
Amyris indigenous to Jamaica, while a fourth, native of Cuba 
and Trinidad, belongs also to the locality of which we write. 
The gum readily ignites and burns freely, producing quan- 
