The _louro_ is a large tree, and of it there are three species, all of which are used principally for the beams of houses, for the timber of them rots quickly under ground or if it be exposed to the weather. The most esteemed timber for doors, window-shutters, floors of houses, &c. is the _pao amarello_ or yellow wood. This is a large tree, and the name which it has obtained, continues to be sufficiently appropriate for the first six months after it has been cut down; but the yellow colour is after this period lost, and the wood becomes of a dirty brown. The canoes are almost exclusively made of the _pao amarello_. The _pao santo_ or holy-wood is scarce, and is much sought after for certain purposes, as it is not liable to split, bend, or break; it is particularly required for the teeth of the sugar-rollers. The wood is beautifully veined with yellow and brown, but becomes after some time of a dusky brown colour. There is likewise a tree which is called _cedro_, but whether it is the cedar or not I cannot determine; the wood is hard, and is much esteemed for building.[129] I cut down all the mangroves which grew along the borders of my piece of land, and likewise some other kinds of trees which grew just beyond the reach of the salt-water; among these was the _aroeira_, a small irregular tree, of which the wood is soft, and not even fit for timber; the only use to which the plant is put, is, that as the leaves have an aromatic smell, they are used in curing fish, to which they impart a slight portion of their odour; they are placed upon the _girau_ or _boucan_, and the fish is laid upon them; fish is likewise packed in the leaves of the _aroeira_ when about to be sent to a distance[130]. The tree only grows in situations near to the sea. Good fences might be made of it for the stakes take root; I used some of the trees for this purpose. The _molungo_ and the _pinham_ have likewise this last property; and as the former is supplied with strong sharp thorns, this advantage renders it preferable to the _aroeira_. The _molungo_ grows spontaneously in moist situations, but the stakes take root even if the soil is dry, unless no rain falls for some time after it has been planted. Great numbers of the _molungo_ grew near to my house, just below a spring of water which oozed from the side of the hill. The cow-itch was also found here in abundance; it is called by the peasants _machonan_.