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
singular fragrance of the smell discovers. American as well as European
painters derive much benefit from the oil of the cupaỹ, for when mixed
with garlick, it brightens pictures better than any varnish, and will
never be obscured by time, if mixed with the colours instead of linseed
oil. In wooden images, particularly, nothing is better for painting the
face, hands, and every thing of flesh, of a natural colour. I can scarce
persuade myself that the oil of the cupaỹ is brought quite pure from
America to our shops; and that merchants do not adulterate it to
increase the weight. There are three trees in Paraguay, all materially
different, but much alike in name; I mean the _cupaỹ_, _the curupaỹ_,
and the _curupicaỹ_. The curupaỹ affords bark like that of the çevil,
which the Indians use to dress ox-hides with. To give them a red colour
they mix the bark of the curupaỹ with that of another tree, (the
caatigua, which the Abipones call achitè). The curupicaỹ, a tree not
larger nor harder than the elder, has a spungy kind of wood, unfit for
any purpose, that I know of, which at the slightest touch, sheds a milky
juice commonly thought to be poisonous.
PIÑON DEL PARAGUAY,
OR THE CATHARTIC NUT.
This is a shrub resembling the fig tree of our country, in its leaves,
its form, and the softness of its wood. The trunk and leaves, when
pressed with the hand distil a milky juice abounding in serum. It bears
fruit like dark walnuts, beneath the hard black rind of which lie three
white kernels, covered with a white membrane and divided into as many
separate compartments; in sweetness, and in shape they resemble almonds.
These kernels, _piñones del Paraguay_, or piny nuts of Paraguay, are
called by physicians, cathartic nuts, _ricini Americani_, or purging
beans; for two or three kernels, which many say ought to be first
stripped of their white skin, then bruised in wine, and roasted a little
on the fire, to mitigate their purging qualities, when eaten, will cause
vomiting, purge the bowels, and expel noxious humours. Whether these
nuts are sold in the druggists' shops in Europe, and whether physicians
prescribe the use of them, I do not know. This is certain, that they
must be taken cautiously, and with regard to the strength of the sick
person. A branch of this tree, when cut and committed to the earth, soon
takes root, and grows up very quickly.