The Paraguayrian trees, though they offer their fruits spontaneously to the natives, do not yield the oil, with which they are impregnated, without being cut. Amongst these is the cupaỹ, a large, tall tree, remarkable for its leaves, which are half a foot long, with red nerves and veins. Besides the wood, which is of a dark red colour, hard, and fit for carpenter's work, it affords a fruit which is dusky on the surface, but has a kernel resembling a walnut in size and form, and which is reckoned eatable by the Indians, and a dainty by the apes. But this tree owes its celebrity and value to the excellent oil with which it teems. To extract this most useful juice both arms, and arts are requisite. The trunk of the tree, which should neither be very old, nor too young, is cut to the pith with a knife. Soon after the incision is made, you will hear a slight crackling, caused by the oil flowing from the top and from the boughs: for the warm air, insinuating itself more freely into the pores of the wounded tree, seems to rarefy and liquidate the oil, which is naturally resinous and thick. To effect this sooner and with more certainty apply dry burning boughs to the opposite side of the tree into which the incision has been made; by their heat, the oil is more dispersed amongst the fibres of the tree, and more liquefied, which causes it to flow freely into the vessel placed beneath the trunk. Within a few hours you will find a jug full of oil. If you wish to fill many jugs cut many of these trees, which are most abundant in the northern woods of Paraguay; there are none, or very few, elsewhere. This operation must be performed in spring, in the month of September, when the moon is at full; if you undertake it in the absence of the moon, in winter, or summer, you will lose your labour. This oil, in colour, could not be distinguished from water; it has a bitter taste, exhales an odour neither sweet nor the contrary, and is useful both to painters and physicians. I will now make you acquainted with its virtues, which I learnt from others, but never tried myself. When warmed and applied to a wound, it is said to stop the flowing of the blood, and to heal the wounded person very speedily. It will cure the bites of serpents, and remove scars. Placed by way of plaster on the breast, it eases languor in the stomach; when applied to the belly, it assuages colic, and pains arising from cold. Two or three drops, swallowed with a boiled egg, will remove dysentery, and other hurtful fluxions, restore the tone to the bowels, and impart strength. Sometimes it is used as an injection with sugar from plaintain water, or oil of roses. From the oil of the cupaỹ the Brazilians make the balsam cupaỹba, of such high repute in Europe, especially the inhabitants of the province of Maranham, which abounds in those trees. But other rosins, chiefly that from the tree ybir̂apayè, of which we shall speak hereafter, are mixed with this balsam, as the