The entire freedom from all restraint which accompanied this wild and adventurous life had such charms for Dampier’s bold and roving spirit, that he sojourned for about a year among the rude wood-cutters of Campeachy, and left them with the intention of again returning for a longer stay. Most of the red dye-woods are furnished by the Cæsalpinias, a genus of plants belonging to the widespread family of the Leguminosæ, and indigenous in both hemispheres. The _C. crista_, which furnishes the best quality, commonly known under the name of Brazil wood, grows profusely in the forests of that vast empire, preferring dry places and a rocky ground. Its trunk is large, crooked, and full of knots; at a short distance from the ground innumerable branches spring forth and extend in every direction in a straggling manner. The branches are armed with short strong upright thorns, the leaves are small, and never appear in luxuriant foliage. The flowers are of a beautiful red colour, and emit a fragrant smell. Both the thick bark and the white pithy part of the trunk are useless, the hard close-grained heart being the only portion impregnated with colouring matter. The wood is sometimes used in turning, and is susceptible of a good polish, but its chief use is as a red dye. By the addition of acids it produces a permanent orange or yellow colour, while the crimson tints which it imparts are very fleeting. The first Europeans that settled on the banks of the Amazons found that several of the Indian tribes that roamed about in their vicinity painted their bodies with a showy orange-red colour. Their attention was by this means attracted to the Arnatto (_Bixa orellana_), which attains about the size of our hazel-tree. The heart-shaped leaves are about four inches long, of a lighter green on the upper surface, and divided by fibres of a reddish-brown colour; the rosy flowers are succeeded by bristled pods somewhat resembling those of a chestnut, which, bursting open when ripe, display a splendid crimson farina or pulp, in which are contained thirty or forty seeds, in shape similar to raisin stones. As soon as they have arrived at maturity the pods are gathered, divested of their husks, bruised, immersed in water, and after a few weeks beaten with sticks to promote the separation of the pulp from the seeds. The turbid liquor is then strained, boiled to a consistent paste, and finally formed into cakes, which are left to dry in the sun. In England arnatto is generally used by the dyer to give a deeper shade to the simple yellow. Being perfectly soluble in spirits of wine, it is much used in this state for lacquering and for giving an orange tint to the yellow varnishes. It is likewise employed in large quantities as a colouring ingredient for cheese, to which it gives the required tinge without imparting any unpleasant flavour or unwholesome quality. [Illustration: CINNAMON.] [Illustration: CLOVE.] CHAPTER XVII. TROPICAL SPICES.