THE VOLADOE. 
25 
ILsed for whatever restores strength, calms the Irritation of 
the nerves, or causes a feeling of comfort. We ourselves ex- 
perienced the salutary effects of the bath. Having slung our 
hammocks on the trees round the basin, we passed a whole 
day in this charming spot, which abounds in plants. We 
found near the baiio of Mariara the volador, or gyrocarpus. 
The winged fruits of this large tree turn like a fly-wheel, 
when they fall from the stalk. On shaking the branches of 
the volador, we saw the air filled with its fruits, the simul- 
taneous fall of which presents the most singular spectacle, 
The two membranaceous and striated wings are turned so 
as to meet the air, in falling, at an angle of 45°. Fortu- 
nately the fruits we gathered were at their maturity. W e 
sent some to Europe, and they have germinated in the 
gardens of Berlin, Paris, and Malmaison. The numerous 
plants of the volador, now seen in hot-houses, owe their 
origin to the only tree of the kind found near Mariara. 
The geographical distribution of the different species of gyro- 
carpus, which Mr. Brown considers as one of the laurinese, 
is very singular. Jacquin saw one species near Garthagena 
in America * This is the same which we met with again 
in Mexico, near Zumpango, on the road from Acapulco to 
the capital.t Another species, which grows ou the moun- 
tains of Coromandel,| has been described by '.Roxburgh; 
the third and fourth § grow in the southern hemisphere, ou 
the coasts of Australia. 
After getting out of the bath, while, half-wrapped in g 
sheet, wo were drying ourselves in the sun, according to 
the custom of the country, a little man of the mulatto race 
approached us. After bowing gravely, he made us a long 
speech on the virtues of the waters of Mariara, adverting 
to the numbers of invalids by whom they have been visited 
for some years past, and to the favourable situation of the 
springs, between the two towns Valencia and Caracas. He 
* The Gyrocarpus Jacquxni of Gartner, or Gyrocarpus americanus of 
Willdenow. 
t The natives of Mexico called it quitlacoctli. I saw some of its 
young leaves with three and five lobes ; the full-grown leaves are in the 
form of a heart, and always with three lobes. We never met with the 
vo la do* In flower. 
+ This is the Gyrocarpus asiaticus of Willdenow. 
{ Gyrocarpus sphenopterus, and G. rugosus. 
