^4 Account of a new JVoodfor "Dyeing: 



it in certain quantities, and giving a fuitable preparation to fiik; 

 we by thefe means may produce the various fhades of rofc and 

 poppy colour, which can be produced only by tbecarthamu* 

 or fafflower with alkaline mixture?, after a difficult procefs. 

 tedious wafhings, and other embarraHing manipulations. 



By examining the external form of a piece of the. paragua- 

 tan, it appears to me to be the fame tree as that which Franci.-- 

 Correal fays he obferved in the province of Popavan*, which 

 is not far from Guiana. The fame author relates that this 

 tree is different from that of Brazil ; that the trunk, which 

 is the fize of one's thigh, is thirty or forty feet in bcight : 

 that its bark is full of longitudinal grooves ; that the wood 

 when (tripped of its bark is of a beautiful red ; and that tin* 

 Indians employ the wOod mixed with a red earth to dye the 

 cotton which they ufe for dreffes. 



The colour extracted from the paraguatandoes not refill the 

 action of light: no colour indeed can ftand that teft. This 

 colour, however, will ftand much longer than that of bra- 

 fd or logwood ; but, on the ether band, thefe two trees fur- 

 nifli colouring matter in greater abundance. 



I conlider the paraguatan, therefore, as one of thofe valu- 

 able production s which America fiirniifies to Spain-. It may 

 be employed with advantage in the art of dyeing throughout 

 all Europe. It is to be wiftifed that fearch mav be made 

 for it in Popavan, and that feme of the earth mentioned by 

 Correal may lie fent over to us. The governor of Guiana 

 ought alio to eolleft every information poffible that mav re- 

 late to the paraguatan, and to tranfmit it to us, as well as 

 other fpecimens of the wood, with fome of its leaves and 

 flowers, in order that its fpecies may be determined. 



A knowledge of this wood begins to be extended, as I 

 lately received a portion of its bark and of a red fubftance, 

 which were brought from Guiana by an Englishman named 

 Milnes It is to be prefumed that this fubftance is the fame 

 as that mentioned by Correal in his voyages. 



* Voyages aux Ir.c'es Occide:italcs, 17:2, p. 4*0. 



INTEL- 



