210 
COLLECTrOK OF PALM-iVlKE. 
"■“’® l^-'irefooted, should never accept 
money m the presence of those vile coloured people!’' 
(gente parda). Less disdainful than our European country- 
wpfo ^f*^*®*^ politely the group of men of colour, wlm 
hints of the Cresccntia eujete, the iialm-trce wine from 
the trunks of felled trees. We asked them to explain to us 
his operation, ivhicli we had already seen practiLd in the 
fhe vnlW nWS "'“olh near Malgar, in 
the valley of the Magdalena, is c illcd =‘thc wine palm-tree ” 
1 alm-tiee. .Uter liavmg thrown down the trunk, which 
diminishes but little towai-ds the top, they make iust below 
excavZoV'-^' leaves (fronds) and spathes issue, an 
excav ation in the hgneous part, eighteen inches long, ei--ht 
Wd and six^m depth. They work in the hollow%f !he 
Itterw n making a canoe; and three days 
atterwaids this cavity is lound hUed with a yellowish-white 
juice, rery limpid, with a sw^eet and vinous flavour The 
termeutation appears to commence as soon as the trunk 
he'’sap flmved^evi P''o®f’''e«^eir vitality ; for we saw thdt 
tlic sap flovved even vyhen the summit of the palm-tree 
(that part whence the leaves sprout out) is a foot hi^^her 
than the lower end, near the rodts. The sap continu^ to 
mount as in the arborescent Euphorbia recently cut. 
y collected ; the last is less sweet, but more alcoholic 
and more highly esteemed. One tree yields as much as 
containing forty-two 
cubic inclics. The natives affirm that the flowing is ‘more 
«SolT;3,“LC“e“^ ™ 
several places, the comnact Hmestone rock, probably of ter- 
tiary formation, is visible. A tliick laver of flay and moSd 
iffinW «telfof caiinStedal 
m c enf is n'® the presence of more 
tmimf ol^^ thf affirmed tdiat coal is to be 
found on the banks of the Smu. We met with Zambos, 
