The same unbroken forest
extends all the way to Maranham and in other directions, as we
were told, a distance of about 300 miles southward and eastward
of Para. In almost every hollow part the road was crossed by a
brook, whose cold, dark, leaf-stained waters were bridged over by
tree trunks. The ground was carpeted, as usual, by Lycopodiums,
but it was also encumbered with masses of vegetable debris and a
thick coating of dead leaves. Fruits of many kinds were scattered
about, amongst which were many sorts of beans, some of the pods a
foot long, flat and leathery in texture, others hard as stone. In
one place there was a quantity of large empty wooden vessels,
which Isidoro told us fell from the Sapucaya tree. They are
called Monkey's drinking-cups (Cuyas de Macaco), and are the
capsules which contain the nuts sold under the name just
mentioned, in Covent Garden Market. At the top of the vessel is a
circular hole, in which a natural lid fits neatly. When the nuts
are ripe this lid becomes loosened and the heavy cup falls with a
crash, scattering the nuts over the ground.
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