ON  MYROXYLON  TOLUIFERUM,  ETC. 
453 
specimens  I  send  will  sufficiently  show  the  difference  in  the  foli- 
age of  the  two  trees,  and  it  is  also  sufficiently  explained  by  the 
greater  luxuriance  of  the  younger. 
As  I  have  already  said,  it  is  impossible  to  reach  the  foliage 
of  any  of  the  trees  unless  by  felling  them  ;  but  I  examined 
the  leaflets  of  many  trees  from  specimens  picked  up  from  the 
ground,  but  saw  nothing  to  induce  me  to  believe  that  the  bal- 
sam is  produced  here  by  more  than  one  species.  The  young 
trees  have  always  larger  foliage  than  the  old  ones ;  but  the  dif- 
ference was  constantly  the  same  as  it  was  in  the  individuals  I 
had  felled.  The  trees  never  make  a  very  dense  head  of  branches 
and  foliage ;  but  in  the  old  ones,  which  have  been  much  bled, 
it  is  very  thin :  many  of  the  small  twigs  are  dead,  and  the  liv- 
ing ones  are  covered  with  lichens. 
When  a  tree  is  about  to  be  bled,  two  sloping  notches  are  made 
in  its  trunk  quite  through  the  bark,  and  meeting  in  a  sharp 
angle  at  their  lower  ends,  leaving  thus  a  point  of  bark  between 
them  untouched.  The  bark  and  wood  is  hollowed  out  a  little 
immediately  under  this  point,  and  the  calabash  cup  is  inserted 
under  it.  The  process  is  repeated  all  over  the  trunk  at  close 
intervals,  up  as  high  as  a  man  can  reach ;  I  have  seen  as  many 
as  twenty  cups  on  a  tree.  The  piece  of  bark  and  the  cups  I 
have  sent,  will  show  the  process  better  than  I  can  describe  it. 
When  the  lower  part  of  the  trunk  of  a  tree  is  too  full  of  scars 
and  wounds  for  any  fresh  cuts  to  be  made,  a  rude  scaifold  is 
sometimes  made  round  the  tree,  and  a  new  series  of  notches 
made  higher  up. 
From  time  to  time,  as  may  be  necessary,  the  balsam  gatherer 
goes  round  the  trees  with  a  pair  of  flask-shaped  bags  made  of 
raw  hide,  slung  over  the  back  of  a  donkey.  Into  these  bags 
the  contents  of  the  calabash  cups  are  successively  poured,  and 
the  cups  are  reinserted  under  the  point  of  bark  and  left  to  be 
again  filled.  The  balsam  is  sent  down  to  the  ports  on  the  river 
in  these  hide  bags,  where  it  is  transferred  to  the  tins. 
1  could  not  learn  which  were  the  best  months  for  the  flowing 
of  the  balsam, — one  person  saying  that  it  was  in  July,  another 
in  March,  and  so  on,  scarcely  two  agreeing  ;  but  the  bleeding 
goes  on  during  at  least  eight  months  of  the  year,  from  July  to 
