240 BOTANICAL OBJECTS COMMUNICATED 
minous twiner), found near Villa Nova, on the Amazon.—This is some- 
times used for bows in lieu of Curandé, which it equals in toughness. 
73. Ipadá, the powdered leaf of Erythroxylon Coca, used by Indians 
on the Rio Negro. : 
14. Caiaué (Elais melanococca) : spadix, in flower. Rio Janauarí, a 
tributary of the Rio Negro. Agrees perfectly with Humboldt’s de- 
scription (cited in Kunth, Enum. p. 280), not so well with Martius’s. 
75. Portion of stem of Alsophila sp. Herb. 614. Barra do Rio 
Negro. 
76. Gravatána, or Blowing-cane, made by Catauixí Indians, on the 
Rio dos Purás*. It is a portion of the trunk of the Paziaba-f (a small 
species of Iriartea, very near I. setigera, Mart.), 9 feet 3 inches long, 
wrapped round with the bark of the sipó called Oaméóé-címa. At about 
2 feet from the lower extremity is the sight—one or two teeth of the 
Cutia, stuck on with the resin of the Jutaké. The Palm-trunk, of 
which the Indians make the gravatana, is for the most part split up 
the middle, to facilitate the scooping out of the soft central portion, the 
tool used for which is a tooth of the Cutía; the two halves are then 
re-united by means of the sipó-wrapping. The Indians prefer shooting 
at an object considerably elevated, the gravatana being difficult to hold 
in a horizontal position, on account of its weight. When not in use, 
the gravatána is kept suspended by the middle and by the two extremi- 
ties, to prevent its becoming crooked. Should it unfortunately acquire 
a curve, by being steeped in water a short time it admits of being 
straightened. 
77. Quiver (called Marupá) belonging to the above, and containing 
poisoned arrows. The Marupd is in the form of a truncated cone, the 
lower diameter being nearly 4 inches, the upper 3 inches, and the 
length 11 or 12 inches; it is made of the sipó Oambé-címa (the wood, 
not the bark), and thickly smeared with the resin of the Jutahi (Hy- 
menea sp.). ‘The arrows are about a foot long, and the thickness of 
the stoutest knitting-needles; they are made of the nerves of the 
sheathing-base of the petioles of the Patand, which, remaining when 
the parenchyma decays, form a sort of beard on the trunk. They - 
called by the Catauixí Indians Arardicohé, and the poison with which 
they are smeared Arinulihé (in Lingoa Geral, Uirarí). Yt is customary 
to make them up into bundles such as I send you. When the Indian 
* About the 7th degree of south latitude, 
