SYRINGE THEE. 
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it, which, being completely water-proof, are highly 
serviceable to the inhabitants of a country where 
the rains are heavy, and the plains intersected with 
rivulets. In the interior of the American conti- 
nent the inhabitants mould the resin into bottles, 
to the necks of which they affix wooden pipes, and 
thus construct complete syringes ; from whence the 
Portuguese of the colony of Para have called the 
tree Poa de ociringa. The wood of this singular 
vegetable production might be wrought into small 
masts, as it is both light and straight. 
We learn from Bomare, that M. de la Borde, who 
travelled by order of the French government, in 
1772, into the interior of Guinea, discovered this 
tree growing on the banks of lakes and rivers. They 
are not easily distinguished in the woods, from their 
tufted branches being intermixed with the sur- 
rounding foliage ; but nevertheless, they may be 
detected by the quantity of young plants which are 
produced from the seeds, and which, after having 
increased to a certain size, are overshadowed by the 
forests, and perish for want of room and air. 
The resinous juice of this tree, according to M. de 
la Borde, flows at all times of the year; but the 
rainv season is the most favourable for collecting 
it; and this is the time that the Indians choose for 
the purpose. They begin their operations by wash- 
ing the foot of the tree to the height of seven or 
eight feet ; then they bind the trunk below the 
place where they begin to wash, with a cord about 
the size of the little finger. This serves to support 
