9 
face upon a narrow longitudinal strip of the leaf, which is’ 
then drawn through by the unemployed hand. The length, 
weight, strength, and other qualities of the fibres, as well as 
the labour of separating them, vary with the magnitude, age, 
and position of the leaves; but, when extracted, a few hours' 
exposure to the sun completes the preparation of the. Sisal 
hemp for manufactures and commerce. 
** The above brief sketch will shew that the bales of ex- 
ported Sisal hemp may contain materials of very different 
qualities; and that hence the opinions of its merits expressed 
by our merchants, our manufacturers, and our scientific men, 
must vary with the parcels that fall into their hands. The 
fibres of a single cultivated variety of the Agave Sisalana 
might be assorted like cotton for the foreign market, with 
denominations and prices corresponding to their relative 
value ; but the collectors for exportation, unconscious of the 
true interests of themselves or their country, not merely 
mingle the whole products of both the Sacqui and the Yaxqui, 
but add inferior qualities, obtained from wild varieties of the 
same, and even of different species ; and injure still further 
the reputation of this sample abroad, by including the worst 
proceeds of its imperfect dressings. . 
' The peninsula of Yucatan embraces the worst soils of 
any province of Mexico. It is principally composed of arid, 
cavernous limestone, and has not a river, brook, or spring 
within several hundred miles of the coast, beginning at 
Campeachy and running thence north to Sisal, east to Cape 
Catoche, and south down to Bacalar. Nature has, however, 
compensated the aridity of both soil and air by bestowing 
upon the indolent inhabitants very valuable plants, princi- 
pally composed of large succulent leaves, or long fleshy and 
fibrous leaves, which propagate themselves both on the stony 
surfaces of the interior and the sandy shores of the coast. 
Those species and varieties whose living leaves yield supe- 
rior substitutes for hemp, are the most remarkable, and the 
plants themselves are embraced by the natives under the 
generic name of vod im As the Spanish j has the sound 
of our h, the white or Spanish Mexicans epe: write the 
common name thus, Jenequen for Henequen. The coarse 
foliaceous fibres obtained from the green leaves of all the 
species are called by the generic name of Sosquil. The 
equivalent to this Mexican term for coarse foliaceous fibres 
A. January, 1839. b 
