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They bear silk-cotton, which falls to the ground in November and December, but is not so substantial as that of the cotton-shrub, being rather like the down of thistles. Hence they do not think it worth being gathered in America; but in the East Indies it is used for stuffing pillows. The old leaves of this tree fall off in April, and are succeeded by fresh leaves in the course of a week.
Every silk-cotton tree is covered with what Jamaicans term "wild pines," air-plants, orchids, and other epiphytes, and every silk-cotton was to him a potential Golconda, so whenever we came across one he wanted the buggy stopped, and up the tree he went like a lamp lighter.
Of this they make cables which are very serviceable, strong and lasting; for they will not rot as cables made of hemp, though they lie exposed both to wet and heat. These are the cables which I said they keep in their harbours here, to let to hire to European ships, and resemble the coir cables. Here are 3 sorts of cotton-trees that bear silk-cotton.
She is of immense height, and white; perhaps this idea is derived from the white stem of the silk-cotton trees wherein she invariably abides.
It was a fine morning: before him lay the whole scenery of the town, in its great variety of clay houses, huts, sheds, green open places affording pasture for oxen, horses, camels, donkeys, and goats, in motley confusion, with many beautiful specimens of the vegetable kingdom the slender date-palm, the spreading alleluba, and the majestic silk-cotton tree the people in all varieties of costume, from the almost naked slave up to the most gaudily-dressed Arab, all formed a most animating and exciting scene.
The silk-cotton trees, which rear their enormous trunks to a stupendous height, far out-topping all the other trees of the forest, are regarded with reverence throughout West Africa, from the Senegal to the Niger, and are believed to be the abode of a god or spirit. Among the Ewespeaking peoples of the Slave Coast the indwelling god of this giant of the forest goes by the name of Huntin.
The outside, which was composed of small leaves and moss, had a somewhat rugged appearance; but the inside, as we had reason to know, was soft and delicate in the extreme, being thickly lined with silk-cotton from the fruit of the sumauma-tree. Below the first was perched a tufted coquette, looking as boldly at us as any town sparrow.
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.
As a final precaution, a sort of crow's-nest arrangement was rigged up in a lofty silk-cotton tree which had been left standing in the screening belt of timber along the southern shore of the island, in order that a look-out might be maintained upon the approach channel during the hours of daylight, and timely notice given to us of the approach of slavers to the factory of which we were in occupation.
The interior landscape, more particularly of the middle district of the island, is here and there ornamented by fine specimens of the ceiba, or silk-cotton tree, which is often seen a hundred feet in height, with stout and widespread branches, giving the idea of great firmness and stability.
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