rom the leaves, which turn red when macerated in water.
The colouring matter comes out of the leaves in the form of a light
powder, and is then shaped into cakes, which sell among the Indians for
the value of a dollar each. This colour has a tinge of lake in it, and
is prized even more highly than the anoto. Indeed, red dyes among all
savage nations seem to hold a higher value than those of any other
colour.

Another dye-tree was the "huitoc." This one is a slender tree, about
twenty feet high, with broad leaves shooting out from the stem, and nuts
growing at their bases, after the manner of the bread-fruit. These nuts
resemble black walnuts, and are of a russet colour outside; but the pulp
inside, which produces the huitoc, is of a dark blue, or purple tint.

The "wild indigo tree," was also seen growing in the woods, with a leaf
narrow at the base, and broad at the extremity. With these and many
other dyes the Indians of the Montana paint their bodies in fantastic
modes. So much are they addicted to these customs, that, among the
Indians who labour at the missions, some have been known to work nearly
a month to procure paint enough to give their body a single coat, and
the missionaries have made a merchandise of this gigantic folly. But
the paint is not always to be looked upon in the light of a mere folly,
or vanity. Sometimes it is used to keep off the "zancudos," or
mosquitoes, so numerous and annoying in these regions.

Another singular tree was observed, which Guapo called the "marima," or
"shirt-tree." The use of this he explained. The tree stands fifty or
sixty feet high, with a diameter of from two to three. When they find
them of this size, the Indians cut them down, and then separate the
trunk into pieces of about three feet long. From these pieces they
strip the bark, but without making any longitudinal incision, so that
the piece of bark when taken off is a hollow cylinder. It is thin and
fibrous, of a red colour, and looks like a piece of coarsely-woven
sack-cloth. With this the shirt is made, simply by cutting two holes in
the sides to admit the arms, and the body being passed into it, it is
worn in time of rain. Hence the saying of the old missionaries, that in
the "forests of America garments were found ready-made on the trees."

Many other trees were noticed valuable for their fruits, or leaves, or
bark, or roots, or their wood. There was the well-known "seringa," or
India-rubber tr