They grow about anywhere, unprotected by hedge or fence; for the Negroes here seem honest enough, at least towards each other.

And at the corner of the house was a bush worth looking at, for we had heard of it for many a year.

It bore prickly, heart-shaped pods an inch long, filled with seeds coated with a red waxy pulp.
This was a famous plant--Bixa Orellana, Roucou; and that pulp was the well-known Arnotta dye of commerce.

In England and Holland it is used merely, I believe, to colour cheeses; but in the Spanish Main, to colour human beings.

The Indian of the Orinoco prefers paint to clothes; and when he has 'roucoued' himself from head to foot, considers himself in full dress, whether for war or dancing.