Hence They Do
Not Think It Worth Being Gathered In America; But In The East Indies It
Is Used For Stuffing Pillows.
The old leaves of this tree fall off in
April, and are succeeded by fresh leaves in the course of a week.
The
red cotton-tree is somewhat less in size, but in other respects
resembles the other, except that it produces no cotton. The wood is
hard, though that of both kinds is somewhat spongy. Both are found in
fat soils, both in the East and West Indies.
[Footnote 167: Nearly in the indicated latitude is the river of Patia,
in the province of Barbacoas. The river St Jago of modern maps on this
coast is in lat. 1 deg. 18' N. in the province of Atacames, or
Esmeraldas. - E.]
The cabbage-tree is the tallest that is found in these woods, some
exceeding 120 feet in height. It likewise is without boughs or branches
to the top, where its branches are the thickness of a man's arm, and
twelve or fourteen feet long. Two feet from the stem come forth many
small long leaves of an inch broad, so thick and regular on both sides
that they cover the whole branch. In the midst of these high branches is
what is called the cabbage, which, when taken out of the outer leaves,
is a foot in length, and as thick as the small of a man's leg, as white
as milk, and both sweet and wholesome. Between the cabbages and the
large branches many small twigs sprout out, two feet long and very close
together, at the extremities of which grow hard round berries, about the
size of cherries, which fall once a year on the ground, and are
excellent food for hogs. The trunk has projecting rings half a foot
asunder, the bark being thin and brittle, the wood hard and black, and
the pith white. As the tree dies when deprived of its head, which is the
cabbage, it is usually cut down before gathering the fruit.
As the coast and country of Lima has continual dry weather, so this
northern part of Peru is seldom without rain, which is perhaps one
reason why this part of the coast is so little known. Besides, in going
from Panama to Lima, they seldom pass along the coast, but sail to the
west as far as the Cobaya Islands, to meet the west winds, and thence
stand over for Cape St Francisco. In returning to Panama, they keep
along the coast, but being deeply laden, their ships are not fit to
enter the rivers, the banks of which, and the seacoast, are covered with
trees and bushes, and are therefore convenient for the natives to lie in
ambush. The Indians have some plantations of maize and plantains, and
also breed fowls and hogs. On the 27th December, 1684, we entered the
river of St Jago [Patia] with four canoes by the lesser branch, and
met with no inhabitants till six leagues from its mouth, where we
observed two small huts thatched with palmito leaves.
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