452
ABUNDANT OF THE NUTS.
a m o n g the m o n o c o t y l e d o n s , and the berthollctia and t h e lecythis a m o n g the dicotyledons. In o u r climates only the cucurbitaceĂŚ produce in the space o f a few months fruits o f an extraordinary s i z e ; but these fruits are pulpy and succulent. W i t h i n the tropics, the bertholletia forms in less than fifty or sixty days a pericarp, the ligneous part o f w h i c h is half an inch thick, and which it is difficult to saw with the sharpest instruments. A great naturalist has observed, that the wood of fruits attains in general a hardness which is scarcely to b e f o u n d in the w o o d o f the t r u n k s o f trees. T h e pericarp o f the bertholletia has traces o f four cells, a n d I have sometimes f o u n d even five. T h e seeds have t w o very distinct coverings, and this circumstance renders the structure o f the fruit more complicated than in the lecythis, the pekea or caryocar, and the saouvari. The first t e g u m e n t is osseous or ligneous, triangular, t u b e r c u lated o n its exterior surface, and o f the c o l o u r o f c i n n a m o n . F o u r or five, and sometimes eight o f these triangular nuts, are attached t o a central partition. A s they are l o o s e n e d in time, they move freely in the large spherical pericarp. T h e capuchin monkeys (Simia c h i r o p o t e s ) are singularly fond o f the Brazil n u t s ; and the noise made by the seeds, when the fruit is shaken as it falls from the tree, excites the appetites of these animals in the highest degree. I have most frequently found only from fifteen to t w e n t y - t w o nuts in each fruit. T h e second t e g u m e n t o f the almonds is membranaceous, and o f a b r o w n - y e l l o w . Their taste is extremely agreeable when they are f r e s h ; but the oil, with which they a b o u n d , and which is so useful in the arts, becomes easily rancid. A l t h o u g h at the Upper O r i n o c o w e often ate considerable quantities o f these almonds for want o f other food, we never felt any bad effects from so d o i n g . T h e spherical pericarp of the bertholletia, perforated at the summit, is not d e h i s c e n t ; the upper and swelled part o f the columella forms ( a c c o r d i n g to .M. K u n t h ) a sort o f inner c o v e r , as in the fruit o f the lecythis, b u t it seldom opens o f itself. M a n y seeds, from the d e c o m p o sition o f t h e oil contained in the c o t y l e d o n s , lose the faculty o f germination before the rainy season, in which the ligneous integument o f the pericarp o p e n s by the effect o f putrefaction. A tale is very current o n t h e banks o f the