THE PALM TREES OF BRAZIL. 



411 



up the lower end for the rim. Hat manufacturers have occasionally 

 utilized these spathes by pressing them into the shape of an ordinary 

 straw hat and stiffening, binding and lining them. The chocolate- 

 brown color and their lightness make them attractive. 



The poor people of the forest regions of the lower Amazonas use 

 this spathe also for bags and reticules, in which small articles may be 

 tied up and hung from the roofs of their buildings. When one is in 

 the forest and chances to need a receptacle in which to carry small 

 articles, fruits, nuts or something of the kind, the spathe of the uhussu 

 offers a homely but efficient help. 



Fig. 25. NcTS of the Ubussu [Manicaria sacci/era), eedvced one half tiametee. 



In general appearance the nuts of the ubussu palm are unlike those 

 of any other palm; the outside coat is rough and brittle like a walnut 

 hull, while the nut is almost as smooth as a horse-chestnut. The green 

 nuts contain a potable milky fluid very like the milk of a green coco 

 nut. The taste of the cut hull, however, is bitter. It is worthy of 

 note that the nuts of this palm float in the water (most palm nuts are 

 too heavy) and large quantities of them are swept down the Amazon 

 and out to sea. They are said to be carried to the West India Islands 

 (where they are known as 'sea apples' or 'sea coco-nuts'), and even to 

 the northwest islands of Scotland.* 



I have spoken here of a few of the characteristic features of a very 

 few of the Brazilian palms, but it is not improbable that our so-called 

 practical turn of mind may lead some of us to ask whether the palma 

 of economic importance cannot be grown in some parts of the United 



'Nature,' Nov. 21, 1895, LIII., 64. 



