PhytelepJias .'] equa^torial-ameeicai^ palms. 181 



'IIU, 



unguiculatae, flexuosae, loculia ssepe ina3C[uilongi3 connective latera- 



liter adnatis longitudinaliter dehiscentibus ; pollinia trigono-pri* 

 smatica. 



Spadices fcemineos examinare non potui. 



Caeludotica, Ruiz et Pavon. 



I gathered a few plants of this genus j but the dried specimens 

 have been mostly mutilated by insects, and are scarcely worth de- 

 scribing. Tlie bifid-leaved species are tolerably abundant, from 

 the mouth of the Amazon all the way up to the Andes, sometimes 

 climbing high up the trees, like epiphytal ^rads, and sending 

 down long aerial roots which are ready-made ropes j while other 

 species are terrestrial and stemless. But ray object in introdu- 

 cmg the genus here is to say a few words about the Carludovica, 

 from whose fan-shaped leaves what are called " Panama hats " are 

 made, the chief sites of the manufacture being, not at Panama, 

 but along the western foot of the Andes and adjacent sea-coast, 

 from the Equator to lat. 6° S., and at the eastern foot of the same 

 mountains between the parallels of 5° and 8° south. The plant 

 Itself grows wild all along the eastern side of the Andes of Ecuador 

 and Peru up to perhaps 4000 feet, and descends into the great 

 plain, along the course of the Amazon, to beyond the Brazilian 

 frontier, M^here I first saw it near the mouth of the Yauari. 



Throughout 'this region it is known by the native name of "Bom- 

 bonaje.'* 



Between the western base of the Equatorial or Quitenian Andes 

 and the shores of the Pacific the same species is largely cultivated, 

 and is probably wild towards the sources of some of the streams. 

 There it is called " Toquilla," the straw prepared from It being 

 fenown as " Paja de Toquilla," and the hats as " Sombreros de 

 Toquilla," or more commonly " Sombreros de paja " (straw hats)*. 



* u 



>» » 



Toquilla" is a pure Spanish word, the diminutive of " toca," a woman 



^«i>. It also means a hat-hand — 

 8e ponia al rededor de la coua del 



il rededor de la copa del sombrero." (IHccionario de la Academia.) 

 Possibly only women's hats were at first woven of this material. At the pre- 

 sent day the hats are worn, of one and the same shape, by both men and women 



horseback. 



ladies in journeys 



Guayaquil the hats are often classed according to the tow 



^v Viatro Kaon foKt^u-o tori fViiiiB ■ ** Rnnihrrros iiG Monie Cristo 



