Part 36 (1/2)

In about teeks from their arrival in the valley, the house, with a stable for the horse and mule, was completed, and all the necessary furniture as well Had you entered the establishment about this time, you would have observed many odd articles and implements, most of them quite new You would have seen boxes woven out of pals made of the fibrous, cloth-like spathe of the ”bussu,” filled with the soft, silky cotton of the bombax, to be afterwards spun and woven for shi+rts and dresses

You would have seen baskets of various shapes and sizes woven out of the rind of the leaf-stalks of a singular palm called ”Iu,” which has no ste directly out of the ground You would have seen chairs ood-sized table, upon which, at ht be noticed a table-cloth, not of diaper, but, what served equally well, the broad smooth silken leaves of the plantain There were cups, too, and plates, and bowls, and dishes, and bottles, of the light gourd-shell (_Crescentia cujete_), so useful liquids, and corked with the elastic pith of a palht be noticed

There were large wooden vessels pointed at the ends like little canoes

They were nothing est of palht of one hundred feet, and carries feathery fronds of e that they are used by the Indian women for cradles and baskets; and their wood is so hard, that hunters often cooktheular iht have been noticed in the new home

One, a cylinder of what appeared to be wood, covered thickly with spinous points, hung against the wall That was a grater, used for the rater of nature's ownmore than a piece of one of the air roots of the ”pashi+uba” pal near this last It was a sort of conical bag, woven out of palh which loop a strong pole was passed, that acted as a lever when the article was in use This wicker-work bag was the ”tipiti” Its use was to corated pulp of the manioc roots, so as to separate the juice from it, and thus row in bunches like potatoes

Soth of a ht When required for use, the bark is scraped off, and they are grated down They are then put into the tipiti, alreadypin, while the lever is passed through the loop at the bottooes under a fir end until the pulp is squeezed sufficiently dry The bag is so formed that its extension, by the force of the lever, causes its sides to close upon the pulp, and thus press out the juice The pulp is next dried in an oven, and becohout the greater part of South America, is the only bread that is used The juice, of course, runs through the wicker-work of the _tipiti_ into a vessel below, and there produces a sediment, which is the well-known ”tapioca”

There are two kinds of the yucca or a_--the sweet and bitter One er The other, which very closely resembles it, if eaten raould produce almost instant death, as its juice is one of the deadliest of vegetable poisons Even while it is dripping froreat care is always taken lest children or other anis are hardly to be found in any part of tropical America--at least not in the low hot countries To sleep in a bed in these cli pleasant The sleeper would be at the s,--insects and reptiles

Hammocks, or ”redes,” as they are called, take the place of bedsteads; and five hammocks, of different di up within, others in the porch in front, for, in building his house, Don Pablo had fashi+oned it so that the roof protruded in front, and formed a shaded verandah--a pleasant place in which to enjoy the evenings Guapo hadwoven the cords out of the epidermis of the leaf of a noble pal now sufficiently coan to turn his attention to the object for which he had settled on that spot He had already examined the cinchona-trees, and saw that they were of the finest species They were, in fact, the sa the ”Cuzconin,” and known as _Cascarilla de Cuzco_ (Cuzco bark)

Of the Peruvian-bark trees there are many species,--between twenty and thirty Most of these are true cinchona-trees, but there are also enus _Exostee, and passes in commerce under the name of _Peruvian bark_ All these are of different qualities and value Sooods,” form a sad comrew on the sides of the adjacent hills, Don Pablo recognised as one of the most valuable It was a nearly-allied species to the tree of Loxa, which produces the best bark It was a tall slender tree--when full grown, rising to the height of eighty feet; but there were so and about half that breadth, of a reddish colour, and with a glistening surface, which rendered thee of the other trees Now it is a fortunate circumstance that the Peruvian-bark trees differ from all others in the colour of their leaves

Were this not the case, ”bark-hunting” would be a very troubleso the trees would not be repaid with double the price obtained for the bark Youfriend, that a ”cascarillero,” or bark-hunter, has nothing to do but find a wood of these trees; and then the trouble of searching is over, and nothing reo to work and fell theether in large nule tree--will be found in one place; and I may here remark that the same is true of most of the trees of the Great Montana of South America This is a curious fact, because it is a different arrangement from that made by nature in the forests of North America

There a whole country will be covered with tile, or at most two or three species; whereas, in South America, the forests are composed of an endless variety Hence it has been found difficult to establish saw-mills in these forests, as no one timber can be conveniently furnished in sufficient quantity to reat _morichi_, form an exception to this rule These are found in vast _pale tracts of country, andspent the whole of a day in exa the cinchonas, returned hoarded their quantity and value He saw, froh tree which he had cli reddish leaves, nearly an acre in breadth

This was a fortune in itself Could he only collect 100,000 lbs of this bark, and convey it down stream to the mouth of the Amazon, it would there yield hi before he could accomplish this task he had not yet calculated; but he resolved to set about it at once

[Illustration: GUAPO AND THE 'NIMBLE PETERS']

A large house had been already constructed for storing the bark, and in the dry hot clih Montana, where they noere, Don Pablo knew it could be dried in the woods, where it was stripped from the trees

CHAPTER XXIII

A PAIR OF SLOW GOERS

At length, all things being ready, Don Pablo and party set out for a day's work a all went along to enjoy the novelty of the thing A ”mancha” of the cinchona trees was not far off, so their journey would be a short one For this reason, the horse andthe fruits of the ”ly fond Even the hard undigested stones or nuts, after passing through the bodies of horses and cattle, are eagerly devoured by wild or taered, take to the pulpy fruit of this thorny palm-tree

It was a very early hour when they set out, for Don Pablo and his people were no sluggards Indeed, in that cli hours are the pleasantest, and they had made it a rule to be always up at daybreak They could thus afford to take a _siesta_ in their ha the hot noontide,--a custom very common, and almost necessary, in tropical countries Their road to the cinchonas led up the strea a few hundred yards, they entered a grove of trees that had white trunks and leaves of a light silvery colour The straight, slender stems of these trees, and the disposition of their branches,--leaning over at the tops,--gave them somewhat the appearance of palms They were not palms, however, but ”ambaba” trees So said Don Pablo, as they passed under their shade

”I shouldn't wonder,” added he, ”if we should see that strange animal the a The leaves of these trees are its favourite food, and it lives altogether a their branches”

”You mean the 'nimble Peter,' do you not, papa?”