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There was also a little hill overlooking plains to the north and west. We passed a solitary tree of a remarkable character, related to Banisteria, the wood being white and close-grained, much resembling beech. As it pleased the carpenters I gathered some of the seeds. This evening by observation of the star alpha Crucis I ascertained the variation to be 7 degrees 52 minutes 15 seconds East.
In your country, the bark of the trees is clad with lichens and mosses, and the parasite mistletoe suspends itself to the branches, more as a burden than as an ornament; here, numerous families of the orchis, with their singular forms, showy and variegated blossoms, climb along the knotty stems of the tall monarchs of the forests; from their feet spring up, as if to enlace them with a magic network, the brilliant passiflora, the vanilla with its intoxicating perfume, the banisteria whose roots seem to have dived into mines of gold and borrowed from thence the color of its petals!