330 
CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS. 
These islands round the Isla de Santa Isabel 
and Rio das Boons, have frequently been 
called the Palm Islands, from the luxuriance 
of that plant. 
Along the Estrada up the river Xingui, 
vegetation seems to acquire its grandest de- 
velopment. Trees as well as plants of in- 
creased size and splendour appear, while the 
forest remains true to its general character. 
One of these trees, a Copaiba, or, as the Padres 
term it, " Itauba," measured at about four feet 
from the ground thirty feet seven inches in 
circumference. Some of these giants of the 
forest reach thirty-nine feet in girth, and 
attain one hundred and fifty in height, the 
stems nevertheless looking quite graceful and 
slender. 
" Wending our way among the numerous 
islands, we had from time to time many in- 
teresting views through the openings between 
these channels of the most luxurious vege- 
tation and magnificent trees. What would 
an Englishman give to transplant a small 
slice of this natural garden of South America 
and attach it as a noble park to his country 
mansion ! The only thing required to give 
it its greatest beauty and interest would be to 
make roads and walks, and abstain from any 
caprices of artificial culture. ... In the midst 
of these wild scenes, where for some hours past 
the view had been shut in, the small branch 
which we navigated rushed like a mountain 
torrent over rocks, and was precipitated to 
a depth of ten or twelve feet. Trees and 
shrubs projected over the stream, shading 
this lovely spot, while high dark green walls 
of tangled foliage and creepers, overtopped 
by magnificent Itauassi-palms, closely en- 
compassed this charming picture of wild 
solitude. We seated ourselves here upon the 
rocks, and watched our boats as they were 
lowered down the falls. Looking from this 
still and peaceful spot upon the dark surface 
of the clear and rapid stream, with which the 
white foam of the little fall contrasts so agree- 
ably, who w r ould have imagined that we were 
sitting on the banks of one of the gigantic 
rivers of the New World ? 
" Acahi, with its broad margin of Cala- 
diums, was soon left behind. This plant is 
much more common on the Lower Xingui 
than above the Caxoeiras. We spent nearly 
the whole forenoon in the Furo das Velhas, 
having proceeded more than an hour before 
the pilot discovered his mistake. We did 
not, however, regret the time thus spent, for 
the aspect of the magnificent though low 
vegetation recompensed us for this labour 
lost. Here seemed to be collected an assem- 
blage of all kinds of palms, together with 
splendid flowers of various species of passion- 
flower and Stizolobium." 
Entering the Tocantius, the mighty stream 
rolls its olive-coloured waves between forests 
of Miriti-palms, while all its islands rising 
from the dark surface are so many forests of 
fan-palms. The straight trunks of the Miriti 
stand in thick interminable rows of a whitish 
green colour, like those of our fir-trees. 
The Earth Nut. — The earth nut is the 
indigenous growth of our soil, but like the 
potato plant before its introduction into this 
country as an article of sustenance, it is 
now neglected, and nobody thinks it worth 
while to have a plant even in his garden, 
although it is as plentiful in its native and 
wild state, as the potato is in Peru, or in the 
first place of its discovery. Yet, by culti- 
vation in two or three years, it will produce 
as large a quantity per acre, of a root three 
times more nutritious than the potato, and at 
less than one-fourth the expense. The plant 
is known to almost every school-boy ; it grows 
in old pastures, and is called jar nuts, earth 
nuts, or earth chestnuts. The plant is rather 
larger than a parsley plant, and something 
like it ; it bears a white flower, and is to be 
found in almost all old pastures in any part 
of England. I planted some roots of these 
nuts (but they may be produced from seed as 
well) in the year 1840, and they came up 
beautifully ; and in the summer, when I dug 
them up, I found some of them two inches in 
diameter, and nearly as large as a man's fist. 
I roasted some of them, and found them deli- 
cious. They something resemble in taste the 
sweet potato of Virginia, or roasted chestnuts 
of our own growth. They are a rich vege- 
table production, containing more of the ele- 
ments of nutrition than the potato by three 
times at least, and will be relished as well by 
the community, as soon as they can be intro- 
duced. — Gardeners Journal. 
Growing Camellias on Wall-tbellises. 
— The Camellia may be grown very well on 
trellises in the span form, or parallel on a 
wall. The ground may be composed of a 
free sandy loam, mixed with turfy peat and 
leaf mould ; the border may be about three 
feet broad, any convenient length, and a foot 
deep. In the bottom should be laid about 
nine inches of broken bricks, broken pots, 
and a little gravel, so that the roots may have 
plenty of drainage — an essential condition. 
In winter the plants should be covered with 
mats, or fir branches, taking care to cover 
them completely. In summer they should 
be watered with water in which a little 
urine and guano has been put ; care must 
also be taken to train them so as their 
flowers and leaves may be perfectly deve- 
loped. In a garden at Brussels we have 
seen them so grown with perfect success,— 
Ghent Annales. 
