Balata and the Balata Industry. 173 
report there is no diminution in the abundance of the 
trees. The forest at this depth of course has never been 
touched by woodcutters, as, for convenience in getting 
their timber out, they have to confine their operation to 
the banks of the river and creeks, rarely going in more 
than a mile or two. 
I have said that the bullet-tree does not inhabit high 
ground in this colony. The ground of the general forest 
in those parts, the eastern and western, that it occupies 
most plentifully is low. In the rainy seasons it is very 
wet, and more or less flooded when the seasons are at 
their height. The general character of this land I des- 
cribed in my last Hevea report.* That in Berbice though 
generally level, the reefs only being rather higher and the 
more swampy parts lower, is very uneven. The stiff 
soil is broken by rather deep rut-like fissures that ramify 
complexly in all directions between the trees. These 
channels are no doubt the result of the wash, slight 
though it must be on such a level surface, of the forest 
drainage. Though they carry off the water in heavy 
seasons, in lighter weather they retain a good deal of it. 
Again, numerous circular holes, a foot or two deep, are 
a characteristic feature of this land. They are scattered 
over the surface plentifully, and are also, like the 
fissures mentioned, full of water. I failed for some time 
to conjecture any satisfactory solution of their origin, 
till it occurred to me, and which I have no doubt is the 
case, that they are the sites of past coquerite palms, the 
stems of which have decayed and disappeared, leaving 
the holes as open, and as they are mostly concealed by 
* Vide Timehri, vol. 2, part I, p. 14. 
