ng it.
They had not far to go--only a hundred yards or so, for up at the end of
the promontory the forest began, and there were both large trees and
underwood.

As they walked forward one species of trees caught their attention. They
were palm-trees, but of a sort they had not yet met with. They were very
tall, with a thick, globe-shaped head of pinnate, plume-like leaves. But
what rendered these trees peculiar was the stem. It was slender in
proportion to the height of the tree, and was thickly covered with long
needle-shaped spines, not growing irregularly, but set in bands, or
rings, around the tree. This new palm was the "pupunha," or
"peach-palm," as it is called, from the resemblance which its fruits
bear to peaches. It is also named "pirijao" in other parts of South
America, and it belongs to the genus "_Gullielma_."

At the tops of these trees, under the great globe of leaves, Guapo and
Leon perceived the nuts. They were hanging in clusters, as grapes grow;
but the fruits were as large as apricots, of an oval, triangular shape,
and of a beautiful reddish yellow colour. That they were delicious
eating, either roasted or boiled, Guapo well knew; and he was determined
that some of them should be served at supper. But how were they to be
reached? No man could climb such a tree as they grew upon! The needles
would have torn the flesh from any one who should have attempted it.

Guapo knew this. He knew, moreover, that the Indians, who are very fond
of the fruit of this tree,--so much so that they plant large _palmares_
of it around their villages--have a way of climbing it to get at the
ripe clusters. They tie cross pieces of wood from one tree to the other,
and thus make a sort of step-ladder, by which they ascend to the fruit.
It is true, they might easily cut down the trees, as the trunks are not
very thick; but that would be killing the goose that gave the golden
eggs.

Guapo, however, had no farther interest in this wild orchard than to
make it serve his turn for that one night; so, laying his axe to one of
the "pupunhas," he soon levelled its majestic stem to the ground.
Nothing more remained than to lop off the clusters, any one of which was
as much as Leon could lift from the ground. Guapo found the wood hard
enough even in its green state, but when old it becomes black, and is
then so hard that it will turn the edge of an axe. There is, perhaps, no
wood in all South America harder than that of the pirijao