454 NATURAL SHIHT8 1JTD CAPS. 



our fire-arms. "What is the monocotyledonous ylant* that 

 furnishes these admirable reeds ? Did we see in fact the 

 mternodes (parts between the knots) of a gramen of the tribe 

 uf nastoides ? or may this carex be perhaps a cyperaceous 

 plantf destitute of knots ? I cannot solve this question, or 

 determine to what genus another plant belongs, which 

 furnishes the skirts of marima. We saw on the slope of 

 the Cerra Duida ' shirt-trees' fifty feet high. The Indians 

 cut off cylindrical pieces two feet in diameter, from which 

 they peel the red and fibrous bark, without making any 

 longitudinal incision. This bark affords them a sort of 

 garment, which resembles sacks of a very coarse texture, and 

 without a seam. The upper opening serves for the head ; 

 and two lateral holes are cut for the arms to pass through. 

 The natives wear these shirts of marima in the rainy 

 season : they have the form of the ponchos and ruanas of 

 cotton, which are so common in New Grenada, at Quito, 

 and in Peru. In these climates the riches and beneficence 

 of nature being regarded as the primary causes of the 

 indolence of the inhabitants, the missionaries say in show- 

 ing the shirts of marima, "in the forests of the Orinoco 

 garments are found ready-made on the trees." We may 

 also mention the pointed caps, which the spathes of certain 

 palm-trees furnish, and which resemble coarse network. 



At the festival of which we were the spectators, the 

 womer, who were excluded from the dance, and every sort 

 of public rejoicing, were daily occupied in serving the 

 men with roasted monkey, fermented liquors, and palm- 

 cabbage. This last production has the taste of our cauli- 

 flowers, and in no other country had we seen specimens of 

 such an immense size. The leaves that are not unfolded 

 are united with the young stem, and we measured cylinders 

 of six feet long and five inches in diameter. Another 

 substance, which is much more nutritive, is obtained from 

 the animal kingdom: this is fish-flour (manioc de pescado). 

 The Indians throughout the Upper Orinoco fry fish, dry 



* The smooth surface of these tubes sufficiently proves that they are 

 not furnished by a plant of the family of umbelliferse. 



f" The caricillo del manati, which grows abundantly on the banks of 

 the Orinoco, attains from eight to ten feet in height. 



