There is, however, a South American tree which far surpasses any of our trees in its power of throwing out spurs or buttresses, principally, I presume, because it may have to endure the fiercest storms from any quarter and at any time. So bold are these projections that several men would be hidden if standing between two of them, and so numerous are they that if a section of the tree were taken at the base of the ground, it would resemble a conventional star or asterisk, *, rather than an ordinary tree-trunk, O.
The scientific name of this curious tree is Aspidomorpha excelsum.
The natural buttresses are so thin and so wide that they look like large planks set on end, with one edge against the tree. Indeed, they are used as planks, nothing more being required than to cut them from the tree.
This is very easy, as, while the wood is green, it is so soft that a blow from a “machete,” or native cutlass, is sufficient to separate it. With the same instrument the native makes these flat planks into paddles for his canoe, the soft wood yielding readily even to the imperfect edge of the rude tool. When the wood dries, it becomes very hard, light, and singularly elastic, all these properties qualifying it for its object. I have several of these paddles in my collection. They are much prized by the natives, and are always stained in various patterns with red and black dyes.
In consequence of the use which is made of this tree, it goes by the popular name of “paddle-wood.”
The Tunnel used as a Passage.
As to this division of the subject, I have not been quite sure where it should be placed, but think the present position a tolerably appropriate one.
We have already, in the igloo of the Esquimaux and the winter dwelling of the seal, found examples of the Tunnel when used as an appendage to the houses and a means of security. We now come to the Tunnel as affording the means of locomotion.
Take, for example, our own railway system. Had it not been for the power of tunnelling, the railway would have lost nearly its whole value, for it would have been restricted to local districts, and could not have penetrated, as it now does, to all parts of the country, without reference to hill, dale, or level ground. Our present system of engineering has wonderfully developed the capability of tunnelling. In former times it was thought a most wonderful feat to drive a tunnel under the Thames, while in these days the tunnel through Mont Cenis has been completed, and we are hoping to make a submarine tunnel from England to France.