The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1866-12-14
wonders Of the valley OF the
Amazon.

palms and rainbow -colored fishes Of
the Amazon. ! did not mean to tell
you more about these enticements of
the tropics, but how can help, when
they are so entertaining2
Since l last wrote we have been led
into the secrets Of the palm trees heart
1.-The palm, loftiest most aspiring, the
woman, the poet Of trees. 1t seems,
after all, to be an enormous variety of
grass, as the fbers OF the trunk, and
veinings, and divisions of leaves viii
show Prof AgsssiE, with his ueusl
infectious enthusiasm, explained -the
economy Of nature in so arrahDing the
broad and crowding palm leaves upon
their stems that each should receive
the utmost possible share of all sur.
rounding inhuences--sun, air, &c. He
described pictureequely the foliaceous
columns, with their glory Of light,
arching leaves above. and symmetrical
Autings beneath, the scar lett by fallen
stems Of years before. He had look cd
about and thought if architecture had
first been developed in tropical re.
gion We should have had, not Corin
THAN and Gothic columns, but some
thing in which palm vegetation might
perpetuate that beauty ofnature which
is so impressive everywhere And
the decorations Of these lofty arches
were US exquisite us their symmetry
Every where cling trailing vines, orch
ides with large white flowers delicious.
ly fragrant, and the bananas staud su-
perb with their dropping, crimson
blossoms.
II is an interesting fact in chemistry
that sometimes where two ingrcdicnt-
form combination, the same result
can be produced by the Withdrawal Of
one and the substitution Of another in
gredient. We find the same law in
vegetable life, At the North our fruit
trees, pears, apples, cherries, &C., are
broadly classsd in one family. 1t is
the rose family In the Amazon val
ley the rose does not exist; but the
fruits which correspond with ours are
also of one family, the myrtle.
In closing this lecture Professor
AgassiE called attention to the practi-
cal resources of Brazil, which are
stArtlingly numerous: ornamental
woods, richly perfumed oils, ropes Of
palm fbers, strong AMI light, and now
used in the English navy, medicinal
plants, dye woods, and fruits to which
our importations from Havana are
mere stunted refuse. He had seen at
Para display Of n hundred and sew
enteen varieties OF wood, collected
within aspace of halt asquare mile,-
Yet there is no sa w-mill in the valley;
the trees are hewn with hatchets into
inch boards. He trusted that some OF
our Maine lumbermen and our trading
ships would be tempted to visit the
valley OF the Amazon and develop its
wonderful resources.
Many tropical fishee are brilliantly
striped, spotted and colored. One has
broad, black plsids upon a golden
ground; one has each scale variegated
with yellow, blue and orange, so that
the combined effect, when it darts
through the water, is indescrlbably
brilliant. Some are red, come bright
green, and some have purple or Grim
son stripes and spots. They also have
often curious .appendages about the
nose, elongated jaws, or nostrils, or
fringes offeelsrs that resemble Eng
lish whisker One fish has so short
an upper jaw that the strong teeth
with which the lower jaw is provided
have no corresponding ones to meet
them. This creature has feelers some
feet in length, which it can elevate
like fishing rod, and thus, us it lies
hid in the mud, seize prey and drop it
into the waiting mouth below. One
family, the CallichthyS, has the power
of secreting 30 much water az enables
it to leave the river and travel for
miles on land. Professor AgassiE has
often seen them at this distance, and
has even known of their making their
way up the rough bark Of trees \
gentleman, our consul at Surinam,
wrote him that, with tho same shot,
he had brought down q parrot and one
OF these fishes
They build q nest something like
that OF the strickle-bGck, hut larger,
and OF coaFser materials. Here they
deposit eggs and sit upon them An--
other family collect in the trunks Of
trees. A hollow log has been sent him