358 
the dapicho. 
respecting the pretended fossil caoutchouc, called dapicho by 
the Indians. The old chief Javita led us to the brink of a 
nyuiet which runs into the Tuamini ; and showed us that, 
after digging two or three feet deep, in a marshy sod, this 
substance was found between the roots of two trees known 
by the name of the jacio and the eurvana. The first is the 
evea of Aublet, or siphonia of the modern botanists, known 
to turmsh the caoutchouc of commerce in Cayenne and 
brand l ara ; the second has pinnate leaves, and its juice is 
milky but very thin, and almost destitute of viscosity. The 
dapicho appears to be the result of an extravasation of the sap 
Irom the roots. This extravasation takes place more espe- 
cially when the trees have attained a great age, and the inte- 
rior of the trunk begins to decay. The baric and alburnum 
crack ; and thus is effected naturally, what the art of man 
performs lor the purpose of collecting the milky juices of 
e hevca, the castilloa, and the caoutchouc fig-tree. Aublet 
relates that the Gal ibis and the Garipons of Cayenne be<nn 
by making a deep incision at the foot of the trunk, so as to 
penetrate into the wood; soon after they join with this hori- 
zontal notch others both perpendicular and oblique, reaching 
Irom the top of the trunk nearly to the roots. All these 
incisions conduct the milky juice towards one point, where 
the vase of clay is placed, in which the caoutchouc is to be 
deposited. W e saw the Indians of Carichana operate nearly 
m the same manner. 
•n f ’ - aS i. SU PP? S0 > the accumulation and overflowing of the 
milk m the jacio and the eurvana be a pathological pheno- 
menon, it must sometimes take place at the extremity of 
the longest roots, for we found masses of dapicho two feet 
m diameter and four inches thick, eight feet distant from 
the trunks. Sometimes the Indians dig in vain at the foot 
o dead trees ; at other times the dapicho is found beneath 
the hevea or jacio still green. The substance is white, corky, 
nagile, and resembles by its laminated structure and undu- 
lating edge, the Boletus ignarius. The dapicho perhaps 
takes a long time to form ; it is probably a juice thickened 
by a particular disposition of the vegetable organs, diffused 
c °k|pfiated in a humid soil secluded from the contact of 
light ; it is caoutchouc m a particular state, I may almost 
