Part 33 (1/2)

Guapo indicated a very singular-looking tree, with a thick, clued stem It was not a bit like either of the palm-trees they had already cut down Its trunk was not over ten or a dozen feet high, but then, such leaves! They were not pinnated like those already described, but what is termed ”entire,” that is, all in one piece, and thirty feet in length by full five in width! Fancy two or three dozen of these gigantic leaves standing up almost erect from the top of the thick trunk, and you may form some idea of the ”bussu” palm

There arehouses, but of all others for that purpose the bussu is the best

These great fronds have a onal direction to the edge When they are used for thatch the leaf is split up the mid-rib, and then each half is laid upon the rafters, not straight, but in such a way that the veins of the leaf will lie in a vertical direction, and thus serve as gutters to guide the rain-water down the roof A very few leaves will thatch a house, and a covering of this kind, when properly laid on, will last for ten or twelve years So much are the bussu-leaves prized for thatch, that the Indians, in parts where this pale of a week to procure them!

The spathe which contains the flowers is also put tospindle shape, of fibrous, cloth-like texture, and brown colour

The Indians use it as cloth It , in which the native carries his paints or other articles; and a large one, stretched out, makes a very comfortable cap Indeed, Guapo used the first spathe he laid his hands upon for this very purpose

There remained now to be found some palm-tree that would split easily, and make laths for the roof, as well as planks for the door, shelves, and benches They soon discovered the very palenus _Iriartea_, and known as the ”pashi+uba” palm It was a tree that differed fro tree, rising, with a sht of seventy feet At its top, there was a sheathing colu colua already mentioned, except that that of the pashi+uba was of a deep green colour

Its leaves, however, differed a It is true, that, like the slender and tapering, were of a triangular shape, notched along the edges, and not growing very regularly out froeave the tree a different, and, perhaps, ular characteristic of the pashi+uba was its roots I have said that the roots of the catinga rose above the surface of the soil So did they, but only to a li a little cone Now the roots of the pashi+uba stood up to the height of ten or a dozen feet! Each root was nearly straight in itself, but there were a number of them, and they sloped upwards so as to rew the stem There ide spaces between the roots--so wide that you could easily pass through, and a full-grown ht with his head under the very base of the ste under the trunk of a tree that rose seventy feet above his head!

There were young trees of the sa around, and these were miniature models of the older ones Sometimes these lesser ones are supported on three roots, like the tripod of a surveyor's coives them a somewhat ludicrous appearance There are many species of this sort of palenus _Iriartea_ In most of them the fruit, which is small oval and red or yellow, is bitter and uneatable; but their wood is prized for many purposes The wood of the species which Don Pablo had found is hard on the outside, but soft within, and splits readier into laths and planks than any other kind of palh trunks were soon felled to make laths, doors, and all sorts of benches

The different kinds were now collected on the edge of the strea plant, called a ”Sipo,” so that they forreat clusters of the fruits of the catinga and pataere laid upon the raft; and then, Guapo,pole, and ferried the whole across The others walked round by the bridge, and were just in ti his somewhat unwieldy craft

Next day the framework of the house was put up, and on the day after the walls These were rew near the bottoreild, for the slopes of the Andes are the favourite soil of these gigantic grasses They were set on end, side by side, and then tied to each other and to the beams of palm-trees On the third day the ”bussu” leaves were laid on, and the house was finished

CHAPTER XVIII

TRACKING THE TAPIR

It has been already mentioned that the strea a sort of lake There was a slow current down the nant, and there grew in sos interspersed with beautiful white lilies Aantic _nyia_--for South America is the native country of this rare plant

Every night, as our party were resting fro fro, and now and then a snorting sound like that sohtened swine Perhaps it would have puzzled any of theave utterance to them, for there could be no doubt they were caused by an aniators;” but that was not a correct guess, for although there are plenty of alligators in all the rivers of tropical America, there seemed to be none in that particular place

In truth, theyin the dark about what creature they thus heard sweltering about nightly, for they could neither see nor hear anything of it in the day; but Guapo, who knew every sound of the Montana, enlightened them at once Guapo had been a keen _tapir-hunter_ in his tie aniular nightly bath, and regaling his and _ny one, I fancy; perhaps the skin of one in acreature, for this reason--that he is the largest land aniuanaco stand higher because their legs are longer, and they are far inferior to the tapir in bulk and weight: while the bears of South America, of which there are two or three species, are small-sized bears, and therefore less than the tapir In fact, no very large land anienous in the southern division of the American continent There were none of the _bovine_ tribe, as the buffalo and e deer, as the elk and moose of the Northern latitudes The deer of South America, of which there are several undescribed species, are all small animals The tapir, then, in point of size takes precedence in the South-Aives hi, or a donkey with its hair shaved off; but, in fact, he is not very like either; he iselse--that is, he is a creature _sui generis_ Perhaps, if you were to shave a large donkey, cut off most part of his ears and tail, shorten his lithen his upper jaw so that it should protrude over the under one into a prolonged curving snout, and then give hi not unlike a tapir

To complete the resemblance, however, you would have to continue the erect mane over the forehead, between the ears, and down to the level of the eyes, which would give that crested appearance that characterises the tapir Instead of hoofs, e toes--four upon the fore feet, and upon the hind ones three A little silky hair upon the stumped tail, and a few thinly scattered hairs of a brown colour over the body, would ; and it would be necessary, too, that the donkey be one of the very biggest kind to be as big as a big tapir

The tapir is a harood set of teeth, it never uses the itself When attacked by either ht, and if that fails, subot out of a tapir

The tapir leads a very solitary life, being met with alone, or someti at a birth, which follows her until able to provide for itself; when they associate no longer together, but part co its oay

This animal is called amphibious, because it spends part of its tih it has been called the American representative of the rhinoceros and hippopotamus, it is not so much a water animal as either of these It seeks its food in the river, or the marshes that border it, and can remain for several minutes under water; but for all thatthe day in some dry spot upon a bed of withered leaves, fro, and makes to the marshy banks of some well-known streaoes in search of food

Like hogs it is very fond of ing in a muddy place; but, unlike these slovenly anied into the clear water, and thoroughly purified itself of the mud