ioned bodies; which often have the astonishing
diameter of fourteen feet, when measured fifty feet above the ground.
Like columns in some vast cathedral, these majestic representatives of
the vegetable kingdom, raise their massive trunks one hundred feet
toward heaven, before they commence to branch out, and to form a medium
sized, symmetrical top. At this height grow the flowers and fruits.

"The fruits are globular, with a diameter of five or six inches. Each
fruit contains within its black, woody, shell, from eighteen to
twenty-five closely packed seeds or brazil-nuts. These fruits, as they
ripen, fall from their lofty position. At the proper season they are
collected, broken open and marketed by the Indians, who roam through
these dark, gloomy, miasmatic forests. The extraordinary abundance of
the crop may be measured by the fact, that one port alone on the Amazon
River, exports annually more than fifty millions of these excellent
nuts.

"Brazil-nuts are largely eaten as a nutritious and palatable food, by a
multitude of people in many lands. They yield a generous supply of fine
bland oil, which is highly prized for use in cookery, and also for
lubricating all kinds of delicate machinery.

"The timber furnished by these fruitful and beautiful trees, is light
and durable, easily worked, well adapted to the purpose of
boat-building; especially canoes of the largest size. Indeed! I may add
as a final tribute to these noble trees, that they are the peculiar
product of the American Continent, of which it may well be proud! They
have bodies so tall, so straight, so large, so symmetrical, so free from
knots, and so easily dug out, that the largest ship used by the hardy
and fearless old Vikings of the Eleventh Century, could easily have been
fashioned from a single one!

"In connection with the main exhibit in the Forestry Building itself, I
visited and examined the magnificent and astonishing timber displays
shown in the State buildings of California, Oregon, and Washington.
These exhibits were in every way worthy of those three great states of
the Pacific Coast; they also served to largely increase the
preponderance of the exhibit from the United States as a whole, over
that of all other nations combined. The demonstrated extent, variety and
wealth of our timber supply, was a matter of profound astonishment to
visitors from other lands; while at the same time these things were
equally a source of surprise and pride t