water is from three to six feet deep, cuts a hole in the ice, adjusts his house directly over it, and with his spear in one hand, and the line attached to the decoy fish in the other, awaits the coming of his prey. Every object in the water is seen with entire distinctness, though, from the exclusion of light in the house above, the fisherman is invisible to the fish beneath. The decoy is simply a small wooden fish, loaded sufficiently with lead to cause it to float naturally, and which, by drawing upon the line attached, is made to imitate the motions of a fish playing in the water. Sometimes the fish comes up slowly, as if suspicious that the decoy was not exactly what it appeared, and passes near by, as if to make a more accurate observation. It is then he is struck with unerring aim. At other times a streak is seen to flash across the opening, a quick jerk is felt upon the line, and away goes the decoy, beyond recovery. If, however, the line is not broken, the fish usually returns more slowly, as if to ascertain the cause of his disappointment-he is then easily captured.

COLONIAL TRADE.

NUMBER AND TONNAGE OF VESSELS WHICH ENTERED THE PORT OF LONDON IN 1843,

WITH CARGOES FROM THE BRITISH COLONIES, ETC.

A DESCRIPTION OF THE MURICHI, OR ITA PALM OF

GUIANA,

(MAURITIA FLEXUOSA, L.)

AND ITS USES BY THE ABORIGINES.*

BY SIR ROBERT H. SCHOMBURGK, PH. DR.,

MEMBER OF THE IMPERIAL ACADEMY NATURE CURIOSORUM, &c. &c.

AMONG the earlier accounts which have been transmitted to us of that country which caused Raleigh to sacrifice his fortune, and to expiate on the block his fanciful dreams,-I mean Guiana,-a palm is frequently mentioned, which the Spaniards called Murichi or Quiteve. Father Gumilla, in his Orinoco Illustrado, Gili in his Storia Americana, Hartszinck, and Aublet, dwell alike on the variety of uses which it affords to the aborigines; and in the Supplement of Linnæus's System, we find it described as Mauritia flexuosa; the generic name having been given in honour of Prince Maurice of Nassau, the specific it received from the wavy manner of its flower-spikes.

It is not my intention to give here a botanic description, which men like Willdenow, Humboldt, and Martius have done before me; but I will attempt to describe its general appearance, and the manifold uses which are made of it.

How can I forget the beautiful aspect which these majestic palmtrees presented to me while traversing the interior of Guiana! I admired them alike at the coast regions of Guiana, where the mighty Orinoco forms a delta perhaps the most extensive geography has made us acquainted with, or at the embouchure of the Essequibo, where here and there the Mauritia raises its fan-shaped leaves above the surrounding forest-trees. I admired them on the savannahs which spread over more than 14,000 square miles, and through which the tributary streams of the Amazon, the Orinoco, and the Essequibo path themselves a way to their recipients, that classic ground which Sir Walter Raleigh fancied to be the site of El Dorado. I admired them at a height where naturalists were hitherto unacquainted, (they were to be found, namely, at the savannahs near the foot of Roraima, which are more than 3,000 feet above the sea,) and always felt the pleasure I experienced at their first aspect renewed.

Of all the forms of large trees, that of the palm is the most grand and beautiful; and of the species which hitherto have been described, and which are said to amount to about 200, the Mauritia is no doubt one of the most majestic. Its trunk, of a light ash-grey colour, rises

Read at the meeting of the British Association at Cambridge, June 20, 1845.

frequently to a height of 100 to 120 feet, before it spreads its large crown of gigantic fan-shaped leaves. Frequently it occurs, that the tornado or ouragan deprives the trunk of its crown, and, deceived by the mirage, they appear to the traveller like masts of a flotilla spread over the savannahs. But he who is suffering greatly from the heat in crossing these burning plains, hails the appearance of these groups of palms with delight; as they grow generally in moist places, there is, therefore, hope of finding water in their vicinity. If we did not succeed in finding water at their feet during our journey in these regions, we did not expect to discover any in the neighbourhood.

The enormous clusters of red fruits, which at the time of their maturity are often six to ten feet in length, number perhaps from 800 to 1,000 fruits. These clusters reminded me forcibly of the account which we have in the Holy Bible, of that branch with one cluster of grapes, from the brook of Eschol, borne between two of the Israelites who were sent to search Canaan.

These fruits are almost round, and, like the cones of the pine, covered with scales; when arrived at maturity, the pulp, or fibrous flesh which covers the seed, is of a deep yellow colour. Raleigh, it appears, brought the first fruits of this palm to Europe; and Clusius, in his Exotic Flora, describes it as Fructus elegantissimus, squaruosus, similis palma-pini.

All travellers in Guiana, and the authors who have written on these regions, have extolled the Mauritia palm. Father Gumilla, in his Orinoco Illustrado, published a century since, namely in 1745, called it, from the variety of uses to which the Indians apply it, arbol de la vida, "the tree of life."

The fruits after they have reached maturity drop on the ground. The fibrous flesh which surrounds the seed is in the commencement hard, and not eatable. After a few days, chiefly if they have been lying in the water, the flesh assumes a yellowish colour; the scales which cover the fruit are now easily removed, or drop off, and the flesh has become mellow. I have already observed that the Mauritia grows generally in swampy soil, or on the banks of rivulets; they drop therefore at once in the water, and if the palm should be in the neighbourhood of an Indian settlement, the inhabitants resort there daily to collect such as are mellow. But otherwise, whole baskets-full are carried to their home, and there immersed in water. The taste is peculiar, and they are by no means relished by a European who tastes them for the first time. We accustomed ourselves, however, soon to their taste, and followed frequently the example of our Indian guides of eating them with our Cassada bread. It is a remarkable circumstance, that when necessity obliged us to use them frequently, we found that our linen after perspiration assumed a yellow colour. The Indians make likewise a refreshing beverage of its yellow flesh, by merely pressing it, and mixing it with water. However, when we commenced our journeys, and they thought we might not meet on our way any Murichi palms, a large number of fruits were a few days previous to our departure collected, the flesh peeled off and stamped into a mass, which was pressed firmly into a basket. If they felt thirsty, the

Indians took a small quantity and mixed it with water; or if hungry at the same time, some Cassada bread was mixed up with it, and apparently it quenched now their thirst and satisfied their appetite. As it commences to go over into fermentation already after having been twenty-four hours in the basket, it is apt to intoxicate when drunk in large quantities.

Animals and birds, chiefly of the latter a species of parrot, the Psittacara nobilis, are alike fond of the fruit. The bushcow or tapir traverses the savannahs a considerable distance in search of a Mauritia tree; and as among a group there are perhaps only two or three which bear ripe fruit, it is remarkable to see the numerous paths, crossing and recrossing each other, which that heavy animal has made through the Heliconias, and other plants belonging to the natural families of Scitaminece and Marantacea, and through the sedges and grasses which surround these natural avenues. No less eager are the Peccaries and Agutis: the monkeys, chiefly the howlers, also eat it with avidity.

At a certain period of the year, the trunk is tapped, and a fluid flows from it which possesses much saccharine matter. This juice has been boiled into sugar, and has been found equal in quality to the sugar extracted from the American sycamore or sugar maple. Of the greatest delicacy is, however, the saccharine liquor extracted from the 'flower, which affords a beverage resembling champagne in its briskness. I have frequently regretted, on our journey, that the Indians used so little economy in order to procure this sweet juice. They cut the palm, and raising it partly from the ground, some vessel or the other was placed under that end which had been nearest to the root, and a brisk fire having been made under the tree along its whole length, the juice ran out much more rapidly.

The unexpanded terminal bud is likewise used sometimes as cabbage, like that of the Euterpe, the Oreodoxa, and others; but it is not so tender.

The Creoles use frequently the juice which flows from the spatha, and mixing it with flour, it is converted into leaven.

After the fruits have dropped off, and the trunk sounds hollow when knocking against it, the Indians in times of need cut it down, and extract from it the pith, which, like the pith of the Sagus farinifera, is converted into a flour, and of which chiefly the Waraus bake a kind of bread called yuruma. Mixed as a pap, this flour is said to be an excellent remedy for dysentery.'

It is asserted, however, that this starch is to be found in much larger quantities when the palm begins to fructify. It is more frequently cut

The Waraus call the starch, Aru. The fine powder or starch which we know under the name of arrow-root, and which is prepared from the roots of the Maranta arundinacea, is called by the Waraus, Aru-aru, or "starch of starch." The name of arrow-root has been ascribed to the circumstance that its root was considered to be an excellent remedy against the poison which the aborigines used for their arrows. It appears to me much more likely that arrow-root is merely a corruption of the indigenous name: for my part, at least, I have never heard or seen that the Indians used it as an alexipharmic.