USES OF THE ALOE. 235 



another thriving young plants, a third strong and 

 full-grown ones; in this a company of men are 

 occupied, some in making incisions in the leaves, 

 others in holding their neat skin vessels to receive 

 the juice, while a fourth field is filled with such 

 plants as having become dry, are preserved for the 

 sake of their strong fibres, which are either drawn 

 into cordage, or used for platting mats, with which 

 to cover w r ooden houses during summer : for the 

 aloe yields not only an abundant supply of pleasant 

 and refreshing juice, but also hemp and papyrus 

 equal to that of Asia and Egypt. The paper on 

 which the ancient Mexicans painted their hiero- 

 glyphics was made from the fibres of this interesting 

 plant macerated in water, and disposed in layers 

 like the papyrus and the mulberry of the South 

 Sea Islands. M. Humboldt preserved several frag- 

 ments of manuscripts, written on specimens made 

 from the aloe; some of which equalled pasteboard 

 in thickness, while others resembled the finest 

 Chinese paper. The thread, too, which is obtained 

 from the aloe, is known in England by the name of 

 pi te- thread, and is preferred by naturalists to every 

 other for the purpose of fixing specimens, as it is 

 not liable to twist. 



Humboldt observes, that scarcely does the 

 habitable globe exhibit a race of men, however 

 uncivilized, who do not prepare some kind of liquor 

 from the vegetable kingdom, while at the same 

 time there are comparatively few who cultivate 

 certain plants for this specific purpose. They 

 mostly extract their beverage from such as consti- 

 tute the basis of their food: witness the distilla- 



