1848.] 
THE COMMANDANTE. 
48 
ance. At Larangeiras the Commandante welcomed us 
with much politeness in his palace of posts and clay, and 
offered us wine and bananas. He then produced a large 
bean, very thick and hard, on breaking which, with a 
hammer, the whole interior was seen to be filled with 
a farinaceous yellow substance enveloping the seeds : it 
has a sweet taste, and is eaten by the Indians with much 
relish. On our expressing a wish to go into the forest, he 
kindly volunteered to accompany us. We soon reached 
a lofty forest-tree, under which lay many of the legumes, 
of which we collected some fine specimens. The old 
gentleman then took us along several paths, showing us 
the various trees, some useful as timber, others as '' re- 
medies” for all the ills of life. One tree, which is very 
plentiful, produces a substance intermediate between 
camphor and turpentine. It is called here white pitch, 
and is extensively collected, and when melted up with 
oil, is used for pitching boats. Its strong camphor-like 
odour might perhaps render it useful in some other way. 
In the grounds around the house were a breadfruit- 
tree, some cotton-plants, and a fine castanha, or Brazil- 
nut tree, on which were several large fruits, and many 
nests of the yellow troupial, which seems to prefer the 
vicinity of houses. Finding in Mr. Edwards’s book a 
mention of his having obtained some good shells from 
Larangeiras, we spoke to Senhor C. about them, when he 
immediately went to a box and produced two or three 
tolerable specimens ; so we engaged his son, a boy of 
eleven or twelve, to get us a lot at a vintem (halfpenny) 
each, and send them to Mr. Leavens at the mill, which 
however he never did. 
