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Updated: June 25, 2025
The Indians, in going from one mission to another, pass with their boats as much as possible by the same way; but the communications not being frequent, the force of vegetation sometimes produces unexpected obstacles. In the thickest part of the forest we were astonished by an extraordinary noise. These animals had concealed themselves beneath the branches of a fromager, or Bombax ceiba.
Indeed I never yet saw an oak tree so large as this ceiba of which I write, either in girth or in its spread of top, unless it be the Kirby oak or the tree that is called the 'King of Scoto' which grows at Broome, that is the next parish to this of Ditchingham in Norfolk.
In front of the Victoria Hotel are some noble specimens of the ceiba, or silk-cotton tree, as it is called here, the finest and loftiest we have seen in any country. These trees, naturally slow growers, must be over a century in age, and afford, by their widespread branches, a shade equally graceful and grateful.
Within three weeks he has started a revolution, beats the government forces at Ceiba, chases Belize from the capital, gets Nicaragua mixed up in the trouble, and draws three French, two German, and two American war-ships to the scene. Six weeks after the wine-drinking he is President of the Republic, en facto. And all of this, Greggy, because of a kiss.
For all the evidence that the wood afforded, it had been untrodden for many years. Giant ceiba trees reared themselves two hundred feet into the air. Lianas hung in festoons from the boughs like monstrous boa constrictors. Parrots flew squawking from branch to branch, and humming birds and butterflies of many hues and gorgeous beauty darted like bright arrows among the flowers.
A sighing breeze sifted its way through the whimpering leaves; again the deadly calm; then a dull roar, distant at first, but gaining in volume with each passing heartbeat. With a crash that rent the tallest ceiba from the topmost branches to the buttressed roots, Siluk arrived.
At every bend of the river appeared some object, new and worthy of admiration some grand tropical plant or tree, some strange quadruped, or some bird of glorious plumage. The craft in which they travelled was that in general use on the upper tributaries of the Amazon: a large canoe hollowed out from the gigantic bombax ceiba, or silk-cotton tree and usually known as a periagua.
"That's the way we've got to go," says Gaspar, pointing to it, at the same time setting his horse's head in the direction of the ceiba; then adding, as he nods towards the pita plant; "have a care of your heads, hijos mios! Look out for this queer customer on the left, or you may get your soft cheeks scratched a bit."
True, there was an enormous ceiba tree growing upon the very edge of the clearing, among the upper branches of which they might possibly be able to conceal themselves; and in the absence of anything more suitable they at length determined to avail themselves of that, braving the perils of possible jaguars, scorpions, snakes, ants, and other undesirable bedfellows.
Here also are found the copal-tree, the palma-christi, the ipecacuanha the root of which is so extensively used in medicine the liquid amber, as well as caoutchouc. Here the vast ceiba, or silk-cotton-tree, is abundant, from which canoes are frequently hollowed out. Indeed, a considerable number of the trees found on the banks of the Orinoco and Amazon here also come to perfection.
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