39 
H. Sckombiirgk^ .Dr. PhiL 
Tiie oldest as well as recent travellers in South. America — 
the Jesuit Oumilla, in his Orinoco Illustrate/^ and Gili^ in his 
Storia Americana/" Hartsink, Aublet, and Alexander Hum» 
boldt describe this most magnificent of all palms with the 
same enthusiasm, and enumerate its manifold advantages and 
utility to the natives ; and no doubt were the Indians in- 
clined towards worshipping idols, this palm would be the 
subject of their adoration as it supplies nearly all their wants. 
The dense forest contained palms from 80 to 100 feet high. 
Scarcely had we entered it when the axes were freely used, 
as our Indians wanted sandals and were also eager for the 
juice, which contains a deal of sugar. The experiment mnde 
with this juice in the Colony have, in relation to the qiiantii^r 
of the sugar it contains, given far better results than those 
made with the sap of the sugar maple, Acer saecharinim. 
The most agreeable juice is no doubt contained in the flower 
spike, of which a beverage not unlike champagne is prepared. 
Excavations were made in the stems of the fallen trees, 
from which we took the juice in cups, or by kneeling down 
and drinking from the cavities. The quick flowing of the 
juice the Indians effected by raising the stem on one end, to 
the height of about six inches, spreading a little dry wood 
underneath and lighting it. 
After having refreshed ourselves and replaced the sandals, 
made from the midrib of the leaves, by new ones, we followed 
the valley in a more westerly direction, when in the evening 
we met one of the dome-like Macusi huts, which we occupied 
as our quarters for the night. The hut was almost new but 
uninhabited, and its considerable circumference, neatness of 
execution ; as also the cause why it had been built in this 
solitude excited our curiosity. We had the builder in our 
midst, it was our host from Torong-Yauwise, who possessed 
several other huts in the mountains, having a passion for 
building, and possessing a great deal more taste for archi- 
tecture than I had observed in any of the other Indians. 
The rest we expected for the night we did not get, as, from 
the first moment we laid dov^n in our hammocks until the 
moment we left them, we were tormented by an insect, which 
in spite of all endeavors to catch it we did not succeed. The 
skin of the head seemed to have a special attraction to the 
torinentoro We carried the marks of their attachment with* 
us, which consisted in red spots of the size of peas. 
At daybreak our old chief left us, and returned with his 
