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4o6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



peach palm on account of its pulpy fruit. In the highlands of Brazil 

 a small palm, a species of coco, known as the 'chifre do bof or 

 'oxhorn' has a nut about the size and shape of a nutmeg. There is 

 but little hull or flesh on the outside of it, but it is thick, black and 

 very hard — almost impossible to crack. These pits are utilized by 

 jewelers to make brooches, pendants and such like ornaments. For 

 these purposes they are carved into attractive shapes, usually flower- 

 like, mounted in gold and set with diamonds. The jewelers of 

 Diamantina, in the State of Minas Geraes, are very skilful in the 

 manufacture of this kind of jewelry. 



Urucury Nuts. — One of the most peculiar uses 



// / to which a plant fruit is put is in the preparation 



of rubber in the valley of the Amazonas. It is the 



•5\ nut of a particular species that is used for this 



purpose — that of the urucury (Attalea excelsa).* 



^ ^{f -> X When the milk of the rubber tree is gathered it is 



CL^ ) " / °^ ^^® consistency of thick cream. It is prepared 



U ' // for the market by being dried in the smoke of a 



^ fire made of the nuts of the urucury palm. A flat 



paddle-shaped board is wet in the milk and then 



held over the smoke as it issues from the top of a 



,^>^^-^^~-^ chimney-pot-like tile a foot or so in height, resting 



j^.'^^|^|S^^ upon stones and with the fire built beneath it. 



''^^^^i^^'=^ The nuts of this palm are often carried long dis- 

 FiG. 22. Nuts of the tances f or this rubber smoking. 

 s::Z'o^Z7.. ^'^ Many of the palm nuts yield rich oUs, and 



these are used to a greater or less extent, especially 

 in the interior, in cooking, in the manufacture of soap and for illumi- 

 nating purposes. 



Special Gases. — The carnauba palm (Copernicia cerifera. Mart.) 

 grows naturally on the marshy uplands of northeastern Brazil, where 

 it is put to many uses by the natives. The trunk is split for rafters, 

 posts and fences; the leaves are used for food for cattle, for thatch, 

 for cordage and for hats; the fruits and the growing bud are eaten; 

 the roots are used for medicinal purposes, and from the leaves is pre- 

 pared a yellowish wax that is used for candles, f The same palm is 

 abundant through the Gran Chaco region of the Eio Paraguay, where 

 it forms immense open forests that stretch as far as the eye can 



* The nut of this palm is about the size of a man's fist, dry and without 

 a pulpy covering, and the shell is very thick and hard. Whether there is a 

 real virtue in the smoke of the urucury nuts, I do not know; the rubber gather- 

 ers insist that smoke made by other palm nuts or with wood will not answer 

 the purpose. 



t 'Notice sur le palmier carnadba.' Par M. A. de Macedo. Paris, 1867. 



