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We shall see the giant "ceiba" tree, and the "zamang," and the "caoba," twined by huge parasites almost as thick as their own trunks, and looking as though they embraced but to crush them; the "juvia," with its globe-shaped fruits as large as the human head; the "cow-tree," with its abundant fountains of rich milk; the "seringa," with its valuable gum the caoutchouc of commerce; the "cinchona," with its fever-killing bark; the curious "volador," with its winged seeds; the wild indigo, and the arnatto.
I shall only here mention the fruit of the juvia, reeds of a prodigious length, and shirts made of the bark of marima. The almendron, or juvia, one of the most majestic trees of the forests of the New World, was almost unknown before our visit to the Rio Negro.
These majestic trees were eight or ten years old, and had not yet borne flowers. Raleigh, who knew none of the productions of the Upper Orinoco, does not speak of the juvia; but it appears that he first brought to Europe the fruit of the mauritia palm, of which we have so often spoken.
We shall see the giant "ceiba" tree, and the "zamang," and the "caoba," twined by huge parasites almost as thick as their own trunks, and looking as though they embraced but to crush them; the "juvia," with its globe-shaped fruits as large as the human head; the "cow-tree," with its abundant fountains of rich milk; the "seringa," with its valuable gum the caoutchouc of commerce; the "cinchona," with its fever-killing bark; the curious "volador," with its winged seeds; the wild indigo, and the arnatto.
There was the well-known "seringa," or India-rubber tree; the great courbaril, the "dragon's-blood" tree, not that celebrated tree of the East but one of a different genus from whose white bark flows a red blood-like juice. But of all the trees which our travellers saw on that day, none made such a impression upon them as the "juvia," or Brazil-nut tree.
A cargo of almonds of the juvia, bought into Havre, captured by a privateer, in 1807, was employed for the same purpose. The tree that yields the Brazil-nuts is generally not more than two or three feet in diameter, but attains one hundred or one hundred and twenty feet in height.
It forms large forests on the banks of the Amazons and Rio Negro, and likewise about Esmeraldas, on the Orinoco, where the natives call it juvia. The natives of Brazil call the fruit capucaya, while to the Portuguese it is known as castaña de marañon. The tree is one of the most majestic in the South American forests, attaining a height of 100 or 150 feet.
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