d white. Meantime fires are made with
the nuts of several species of palms--the inaja and others. These
produce a thick black smoke. The india-rubber is then passed several
times through it. By this means a dark colour and the proper
consistency are obtained. The moulds being broken, the clay is poured
out, and the material is ready for the market.

Sometimes it is formed in large flat pieces; and of late years it has
been preserved in a liquid state in hermetically closed vessels.

The seringa-tree differs greatly from the group of plants which furnish
the caoutchouc of Africa and the West Indies; the latter being the
product of certain species of ficus of a climbing character, and
inferior to the india-rubber of South America.

THE COW-TREE.

Among the noblest of the forest monarchs appears a tree with
deeply-scored reddish and ragged bark. Who would have supposed that
from that vast trunk would issue a milky liquid scarcely distinguishable
at first from that of the cow? Yet such is the sap coming from the
opening made by the axe from the massaranduba or cow-tree. When fresh
it serves every purpose of real milk when mixed with coffee; but drunk
pure has a somewhat coarse taste--and it is considered dangerous to
drink much of it, however refreshing a small quantity may be. It soon
thickens, and forms a tenacious glue, which can be usefully employed in
cementing crockery. A decoction of the bark is employed as a red dye
for cloth. The fruit, also, is largely consumed; while the wood is
excessively durable in water.

MONKEYS' DRINKING-CUPS--BRAZIL-NUT TREE.

Two lofty trees, closely allied to each other--the Lecythis ollaria and
the Bertholletia excelsa--produce enormous capsules full of nuts. The
first, called the sapucaya, yields these curious capsules known as
_cuyas de maccao_, or monkeys' drinking-cups. At the top is a circular
hole, to which a natural lid fits exactly. On the nuts becoming ripe
the lid is loosened, and the heavy cup falling to the ground, the nuts
are scattered far and wide, when they are eaten by numerous animals on
the watch for them. The collectors, therefore, have difficulty in
obtaining them. The other tree, known as the Brazil-nut tree, produces
similar wooden vessels; but as they have no lid, they fall entire to the
ground, and are thus preserved till human beings come to collect them,
when they are shipped to England and other parts of the world.

THE VICTORIA REGIA.