76 
omit these observations, on account of the importance of the 
subject in connection with our main object. 
VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. 
All the plants mentioned, speaking of the southern division 
of the Isthmus, are also found in the northern, but with a 
profusion incomparably greater. The luxuriance and majestic 
appearance of the forests of the Coatzacoalcos are beyond all 
description, and as Don Tadeo de Ortiz well observed, they 
exhibit “ a truly monstrous vegetation, of which ocular inspec- 
“ tion alone can give an adequate idea.” 
In the description of the course of the Coatzacoalcos, all 
the large timber fit for ship-building has been already noticed. 
In almost all the rivers, and especially in the Jaltepec and 
Uspanapan, the pine is found in the upper part of their course; 
then comes the majestic oak, and in the lower part the most 
precious woods. Among those used in construction, the cedar, 
the sapota, the oak, the yellow-wood, the ebony, the javicue , 
macayo , and above all th e paqui (iron-wood), which from its 
extreme hardness is also called there quiebra hacha (break- 
axe). 
Along the whole coast of the Atlantic the tree which pro¬ 
duces the kind of pepper known by the name of myrtle 
(myrtus pimenta) is found ; and according to the calculations 
of Senor Ortiz, this fruit might be gathered annually to an 
amount of £10,000. 
In various parts, but particularly in the neighbourhood of 
Jaltipan, the Jatropha elastic a has been observed, from which 
the caoutchouc, or India rubber, is obtained. In other spots 
the cassia is also very common. Fruit trees are almost in¬ 
numerable : the sapotas of various kinds, the lemon, the orange, 
and the wild cocoa tree being remarkable among them, as 
well as two kinds of vine. The vanilla, the indigo plant, and 
the sarsaparilla are also very plentiful. 
In the neighbourhood of Mina-titlan are found two species 
of the sensitive plant one of which is the common mimosa 
pudica so generally known, and the Other grows as a bush 
