The Banana, the American Agave, the Bamboo, and divers Palm-trees supply the inhabitants of South America with suitable materials for the fabrication of various tissues, from the finest and most brilliant linen cloth to the rude mats which ornament the cabin of the savage. Trees bearing fruits or edible roots are innumerable. To the Bananas and Cocoa-trees which I have already mentioned, we may add, as the most useful, the Maranteas or Canneas, especially the _Maranta arundinacea_, _M. alloya_, and _M. nobilis_, whose roots, rasped and washed, constitute the popular and valuable farina so widely known as _Arrow-root_; the Guavas (_Psidium pyriferum_, and _P. pomiferum_), whose gilded fruits contain a succulent and perfumed pulp; the Papaw tree (_Carica papaya_), resembling the Palm in its port and aspect, and also loaded with large yellowish fruit, whose flesh is exceedingly savoury and aromatic. The Papaw, moreover, enjoys some extremely remarkable properties; thus, its milky juice exhales, when burnt, an ammoniacal odour, and chemical analysis has recognized therein the presence of _fibrine_. Mix some of this juice in water, plunge into the mixture fresh hard meat, and in a few moments it will become exquisitely tender. The very exhalations of the tree operate in the same manner, and the inhabitants of the regions where it flourishes suspend to its branches such meat and poultry as they wish to soften. * * * * * [Illustration: FLORA OF THE NEW WORLD. 1. Papaw Tree (_Papaya Sativa_) 2. Great American Cocoa-Nut Tree. 3. Mangrove (_Rhizophora mangle_).]