358
THE DAPICHO.
respecting the pretended fossil c a o u t c h o u c , called dapicho b y t h e Indians. T h e old chief Javita led us t o the b r i n k o f a rivulet which runs into the T u a m i n i ; and showed us that, after digging two or three feet deep, in a marshy soil, this substance was found between the roots o f t w o trees k n o w n by the name o f the jacio and the curvana. T h e first is the hevea o f A u h l e t , o r siphonia o f tho m o d e r n botanists, k n o w n to furnish the c a o u t c h o u c o f c o m m e r c e in Cayenne and Grand Para; the second has pinnate leaves, and its j u i c e is milky, b u t very thin, and almost destitute o f viscosity. Tho dapicho appears to be the result o f an extravasation o f the sap from the roots. This extravasation takes place more especially when the trees have attained a great age, and the interior o f the trunk begins to d e c a y . T h e bark and a l b u r n u m c r a c k ; and thus is effected naturally, what the art o f man performs for tho purpose o f collecting the milky j u i c e s o f the hevea, the castilloa, and the c a o u t c h o u c fig-tree. Aublet relates, that t h e Galibis and the G a r i p o n s o f Cayenne begin by making a deep incision at the foot o f the trunk, so as t o penetrate into the wood ; soon after they j o i n with this horizontal notch others both perpendicular and oblique, reaching from the t o p o f the trunk nearly to the r o o t s . A l l these incisions c o n d u c t the milky j u i c e towards one point, where the vase o f (day is placed, in which the c a o u t c h o u c is to be deposited. W e saw the Indians o f Carichana operate nearly in the same manner. If, as I suppose, the accumulation and overflowing o f the milk in the jacio and t h e curvana be a p a t h o l o g i c a l p h e n o m e n o n , it must s o m e t i m e s tako place at the extremity o f the longest roots, for we found masses o f dapicho t w o feet in diameter and four inches thick, eight feet distant from t h e trunks. Sometimes the Indians dig in vain at the f o o t o f dead t r e e s ; at other times the dapicho is found beneath the hevea o r j a c i o still green. T h e substance is w h i t e , c o r k y , fragile, and resembles by its laminated structure and u n d u lating e d g e , the Boletus ignarius. T h e dapicho perhaps t a k e s a l o n g t i m e t o form by a particular disposition and coagulated in a humid l i g h t ; it is c a o u t c h o u c in
; it is p r o b a b l y a j u i c e t h i c k e n e d o f the vegetable organs, diffused soil secluded from the c o n t a c t o f a particular state, I may almost