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One of the loftiest and most beautiful of the palm-trees the wax-palm grew in these very parts, for the lower slopes of the Andes are its favourite habitat. Out of its trunk exudes wax, which has only to be scraped off and made into candles, that burn as well as those made of the wax of bees.
I see the abanico, with its enormous fan-shaped leaves; the wax-palm distilling its resinous gum; and the acrocomia, with its thorny trunk and enormous racemes of golden fruits. I gaze with wonder upon the ferns, those strange creatures of the vegetable world, that upon the hillsides of my own far island-home scarce reach the knee in height.
We afterwards found some on the mountains of Quindio. They are the most hardy of the Palm tribe: where others would perish, or assume a dwarfed or stunted form, the wax-palm raises its stem, in the form of an elegantly-wrought column, a hundred and fifty feet high, with a splendid leafy plume.
The wax-palm of Humboldt has its trunk covered by a coating of wax, which exudes from the spaces between the insertion of the leaves. It is, according to Vaquelin, a concrete, inflammable substance, consisting of 1/3 wax, and 2/3 resin. Why are some oils called vegetable butters? Because they become solid at the ordinary temperatures. Such are cocoa-nut oil, palm oil, and nutmeg oil.
There are great forests along the banks of this river. They run back from the river for hundreds of miles. They are the largest forests in the world. A great many kinds of trees grow in these forests. Some of the trees are very high. Often the trees are covered with vines on which beautiful flowers grow. Wax-palm trees, breadfruit trees, and rubber trees are found in these forests.
Soon after this, on the shores of a small lake, we came upon a curious tree, which Mr Laffan pronounced to be the wax-palm, or the Ceroxilon andicola. From its appearance I should have supposed that it could only grow in the very warmest regions; but it is of so happy a constitution that it flourishes equally well in temperate and in cold climates.
Indeed, the missionaries, in their various religious ceremonies, have always made large use of these palm-candles. Another "wax-palm," called "Carnáuba," is found in South America. In this one, the wax of a pure white colour, and without any admixture of resin collects upon the under-side of the leaves, and can be had in large quantities by merely stripping it off.
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