310 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
leaves which they make use of to manufacture cordage, superior in fineness, strength 
and durability to that procured from the Mauritia fleruosa. They strip off the epi- 
dermis and prepare it in the same manner as described in the account of that species, 
but while the ‘‘miriti” is principally used for hammocks, the “tuctim” serves for bow 
strings, fishing-nets and other purposes where fineness, combined with strength, is 
required... . 
The Brazilians of the Rio Negro and Upper Amazon make very beautiful hammocks 
of fine “tuctim” thread, knitted by hand into a compact web of so fine a texture as to 
occupy two persons three or four months in their completion. They then sell at about 
3£ each, and when ornamented with the feather-work borders, at double that sum. 
Most of them are sent as presents to Rio de Janeiro.¢ 
The method of stripping the epidermis and of twisting it into cords 
on the naked thigh, as described by Wallace, appears to be exactly 
the same as that used among the native negroes of West Africa in 
preparing the fiber known commercially as ‘‘raffia,” which is derived 
from the epidermis of the young leaves of the African wine palm 
(Raphia). 
DOMESTICATION OF THE PACAYA PALM IN GUATEMALA. 
Another domesticated palm, not hitherto recognized as such, exists 
in the Coban district of eastern Guatemala. It is a species of Cha- 
maedorea, locally known as pacaya. Tt is not grown for the sake of 
its fruits or leaves, but for the fleshy inflorescences that are cooked 
and eaten as a salad. Only the male plants furnish the edible inflo- 
rescences, this palm being diocious, like all of the species of Chamae- 
dorea, The whole of the spadix or flower-bearing part of the inflo- 
rescence is eaten and is of very delicate texture. It compares with 
other so-called “palm cabbages”’ much as cauliflower does with other 
garden cabbages, the cauliflower representing the young tender 
inflorescence of the plant instead of the fleshy leaf bud. The taste 
of the cooked pacaya is slightly bitter, but the flavor is generally 
relished, not only by the native population, but also by resident 
Europeans. 
The difliculty of obtaining cabbages from other palms is that the 
whole palm has to be sacrificed in order to obtain the small mass of 
tender edible tissue in the terminal bud. With the pacaya no such 
sacrifice is necessary. The removal of the inflorescence does not 
injure the palms, and they continue to produce a succession of crops 
during a considerable period of years. The pacava is not planted 
as a field crop, but is grown in considerable numbers as a garden 
plant, not only about Coban, but in Purulha and other towns of east- 
ern Guatemala. In the wild state it seems to be confined to heavily 
shaded, humid valleys with other related species, but it also thrives 
when planted in the open. The palm grows to a height of 15 or 20 
feet, and has a crown of very handsome, gracefully drooping leaves. 
@ Wallace, op. cit., pp. 105, 106. 
