We
have so accustomed ourselves, although erroneously, to regard Coniferae as a
northern form, that I experienced a feeling of surprise when, in ascending
from the shores of the South Pacific toward Chilpansingo and the elevated
valleys of Mexico, between the 'Venta de la Moxonera' and the 'Alto de los
Caxones', 4000 feet above the level of the sea, I rode a whole day through a
dense wood of Pinus occidentalis, where I observed that these trees, which
are so similar to the Weymouth pine, were associated with fan palms*
('Corypha dulcis'), swarming with brightly-colored parrots.
[[footnote] *This corypha is the 'soyate' (in Aztec, zoyatl), or the 'Palma
dulce' of the natives. See Humboldt and Bonplaud, 'Synopsis Plant.
AEquinoct. Orbis Novi', t. i., p. 302. Professor Buschmann, who is
profoundly acquainted with the American languages, remarks, that the 'Palma
soyate' is so named in Yepe's 'Vocabulario de la Lengua Othomi', and that
the Aztec word zoyatl (Molina, 'Vocabulario en Lengua Mexicana y
Castellana', p. 25) recurs in names of places, such as Zoyatitlan and
Zoyapanco, near Chiapa.
South America has oaks, but not a single species of pine; and the first time
that I again saw the familiar form of a fir-tree, it was thus associated
with the strange appearance of the fan palm.
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