plantains produces nearly
twenty times as much food as the same space sown with corn.

HUMMING-BIRDS.

Amid this rich and varied vegetation, swarms of tiny and brilliant
humming-birds flutter round the masses of highly-scented blossoms that
perfume the air, and which might be mistaken by the stranger at first
sight for some of the metallic-coloured beetles which dispute with them
the nectar of the fragrant flowers, so brilliant is the lustre shed by
both. As Gosse well remarks: "For that peculiar charm which resides in
flashing light, combined with the most brilliant colours, the lustre of
precious stones, there are no birds, no creatures, that can compare with
the humming-birds, confined exclusively to America." These lovely
little winged gems were to the Mexican and Peruvian Indians the very
quintessence of beauty; and were called by various names, signifying
"the rays of the sun," and the like. Fully four hundred distinct
species of these winged gems are supposed to exist on the continent.

TREES.

Of the trees which have a wide range over the country, especially near
the sea-coast, the lignum vitae is of great value. As from its hard
nature it turns the edge of the best-tempered tools, it serves for the
construction of wharves, as well as for the keels of ships,--the attacks
of the teredo, or sea-worm, being futile upon the iron network of its
fibres. It can remain under water for an indefinite period without
rotting, and eventually becomes petrified.

Here the guayacan, or guayacum of the arts, is found in great abundance.

The alcornoque, a beautiful tree, scarcely inferior to it, here raises
its graceful head above the rest, affording the cattle a permanent shade
during the dry season; while in the Llanos it is used in the
construction of houses and fences.

The Brazileto-wood tree grows in abundance, producing a beautiful dye.

Among others is the tree which yields the precious balsam of copaiba,--
extracted by making incisions in the trunk, when the resinous fluid
pours forth.

The natives form their piroques or canoes from the last which we will
mention, the tacamahaca (the Elaphrium tornentosium), which here attains
great dimensions. The bark is of the nature of the birch-bark of North
America, and is stripped off the trees in a similar manner, the huge
sheets being joined at the extremities by means of slender vines, while
the interstices are filled with resin to keep out the water--the whole