and ropes, and exported to foreign countries
for brushes and brooms, being singularly elastic, strong, and more
durable than hemp; and the Moira-pinima, or "tortoise-shell wood," the
most beautiful wood in all Amazonia, if not in the world, grow on the
Upper Rio Negro. A small willow represents the great catkin family.

[Footnote 168: Von Martius, in his great work on the Brazilian Palms,
enumerates in all 582 species.]

[Footnote 169: The Portuguese and Brazilians call it _seringa_, or
syringe, in which form it is still used extensively, injections forming
a great feature in the popular system of cures. The tree mentioned above
yields most of the rubber of commerce, and is considered distinct from
the species in Guiana, _S. elastica;_ while the rubber from the Upper
Amazon and Rio Negro comes from the _S. lutea_ and _S. brevifolia_.
Agassiz puts milk-weed in the same family!]

The valley is as remarkable for the abundance, variety, and value of its
timber as for any thing else. Within an area of half a mile square,
Agassiz counted one hundred and seventeen different kinds of woods, many
of them eminently fitted, by their hardness, tints, and beautiful grain,
for the finest cabinet-work. Enough palo de sangre or moira-pinima is
doubtless wasted annually to veneer all the palaces of Europe.

While most of our fruits belong to the rose family, those of the Amazon
come from the myrtle tribe. The delicious flavor, for which our fruits
are indebted to centuries of cultivation, is wanting in many of the
torrid productions. We prefer the sweetness of Pomona in temperate
climes to her savage beauty in the sunny south. It is a curious fact,
noticed by Herndon, that nearly all the valuable fruits of the valley
are inclosed in hard shells or acid pulps. They also reach a larger
size in advancing westward. The common Brazil nut is the product of one
of the tallest trees in the forest (_Bertholletia excelsa_). The fruit
is a hard, round shell, resembling a common ball, which contains from
twenty to twenty-four nuts. Eighteen months are required for the bud to
reach maturity. This tree, says Humboldt, offers the most remarkable
example of high organic development. Akin to it is the Sapucaya or
"chickens' nuts" (_Lecythis sapucaya_), whose capsule has a natural lid,
and is called "monkey's drinking-cup." The nuts, about a dozen in
number, are of irregular shape and much richer than the preceding. But
they do not find their way to