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The tree does not blossom until its fifteenth year, and then it bears violet-coloured flowers; although there is another species, the "sapucaya," which has yellow ones. But it is neither the trunk, nor the branches, nor the leaves, nor yet the flowers of this tree, that render it such an object of curiosity.
In one place there was a quantity of large empty wooden vessels, which Isidoro told us fell from the Sapucaya tree. At the top of the vessel is a circular hole, in which a natural lid fits neatly. When the nuts are ripe this lid becomes loosened and the heavy cup falls with a crash, scattering the nuts over the ground. This is the reason why the one kind of nut is so much dearer than the other.
The tree does not blossom until its fifteenth year, and then it bears violet-coloured flowers; although there is another species, the "sapucaya," which has yellow ones. But it is neither the trunk, nor the branches, nor the leaves, nor yet the flowers of this tree, that render it such an object of curiosity.
When falling off the tree the sapucaya the tops split off, and the nuts are scattered on the ground. Duppo made us understand that these cups would serve well to collect the milk from the cow he promised to show us. I may observe that the trees which bear the monkey drinking-cups are closely allied to the Brazil-nut tree, the fruit of which we had often seen sold in England under that name.
The fruit, also, is largely consumed; while the wood is excessively durable in water. Two lofty trees, closely allied to each other the Lecythis ollaria and the Bertholletia excelsa produce enormous capsules full of nuts. The first, called the sapucaya, yields these curious capsules known as cuyas de maccao, or monkeys' drinking-cups.
The Sapucaya is not less abundant, probably, than the Bertholletia, but its nuts in falling are scattered about and eaten by wild animals; whilst the full, whole capsules of Brazil-nuts are collected by the natives. What attracted us chiefly were the colossal trees.
John Trinidade was famous for his tobacco and cigarettes, as he took great pains in preparing the Tauari, or envelope, which is formed of the inner bark of a tree, separated into thin papery layers. Many trees yield it, among them the Courataria Guianensis and the Sapucaya nut-tree, both belonging to the same natural order.
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