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THE CINNAMON OF THE ORINOCO.
o f small r o c k s rise from the plain. T h e s e form massy prisms, ruined pillars, and solitary towers fifteen o r twenty feet high. Some are shaded by the trees o f the forest, others have their summits c r o w n e d with palms. These rocks are of granite passing into gneiss. At the confluence o f t h e V i c h a d a the rocks o f granite, and what is still m o r e remarkable, the soil itself, are covered with moss and lichens. T h e s e latter resemble the Cladonia pyxidata and the L i c h e n rangiferinus, so c o m m o n in the north o f Europe. W e c o u l d scarcely persuade ourselves that we were elevated less than o n e hundred toises above the level o f the sea, in the fifth degree o f latitude, in the centre o f the torrid zone, which has so l o n g been t h o u g h t t o be destitute o f c r y p t o g a m o u s plants. T h e mean temperature o f this shady and humid s p o t p r o bably exceeds twenty-six degrees o f the centigrade t h e r m o meter. Inflecting on the small quantity o f rain which had hitherto fallen, we were surprised at the beautiful verdure o f the forests. T h i s peculiarity characterises the valley of the Upper Orinoco ; on the coast o f Caracas, and in the Llanos, the trees in winter (in the season called s u m m e r in South A m e r i c a , north o f the e q u a t o r ) are stripped o f their leaves, and the g r o u n d is covered o n l y with y e l l o w a n d withered grass. Between the solitary rocks just described arise some high plants o f c o l u m n a r cactus ( C a c t u s s e p t e m a n g u l a r i s ) , a very rare appearance south o f the cataracts o f A t u r e s and M a y p u r e s . A m i d this picturesque scene M . Bonpland was fortunate e n o u g h to find several specimens o f Laurus c i n n a m o m o 誰 d e s , a very aromatic species o f c i n n a m o n , known at the O r i n o c o by the names o f varimacu and o f canelilla* This valuable production is found also in the valley of the Rio Caura, as well as near Esmeralda, and eastward o f the G r e a t Cataracts. The Jesuit Francisco de Olmo appears to have been the first w h o discovered t h e canelilla, which he did in the country o f the Piaroas, near the sources o f the Cataniapo. T h e missionary Gili, who did not advance so far as the regions I am now describing, seems to c o n f o u n d the varimacu, or guarimacu, with the myristica, or nutmeg-tree o f America. These barks and aromatic fruits, the cinnamon, the nutmeg, the M y r t u s pimenta, and the Laurus pucheri, * The diminutive of the Spanish word canela, which signifies cinnamon.