MIRITI OF ECOXOMIC PLANTS. 273 



and P. miliaccum, two strong annual grasses, are cultivated 

 under tlie name of Millet ; they produce a dense cylindrical 

 head of small grains, which are chiefly used for feeding poultry. 

 Several others of the Fanicum group, as also Meusine coracana, 

 a decumbent grass, are cultivated in various warm countries, 

 and called Millet. 



Millet Khoda, a name in India for the grains of Faspalum 

 sc7vhictdatu77i, cultivated as a kind of Millet. 



Mint. (See Peppermint, also Spearmint.) 



Mio Mio, a name in the Argentine Republic, Banda Oriental, 

 and Uruguay, for Baccliaris cordifolia, a shrub of the Composite 

 family (Compositse). It grows in pastures, and is poisonous to 

 sheep. 



Mirabel, a French name for candied or preserved plums. 



Miriti or Ita Palm the Indian name for Mauritia flexuosa, 

 native of the swamps of the Orinoco. It is also stated to be 

 found at the sources of the Orinoco, at an elevation of 4263 feet. 

 It is a magnificent palm, its cylindrical stems rising like Grecian 

 columns to a height of 100 or 150 feet, terminated by a crown 

 of large fan-shaped leaves, from the base of which is produced 

 a big bunch of pendulous fruits, some measuring 8 to 10 feet 

 in length, weighing 2 or 3 cwts., and containing several 

 bushels of fruit. Each fruit is about the size of a small apple, 

 liaving a reticulated, polished, smooth shell. The Guarane tribe 

 of Indians, during the period of the inundations by the Orinoco, 

 suspend their dwellings from the stems of this palm. These 

 dwellings consist of a floor made of its leaves, on one part of 

 which they place a little earth whereon to make their fire. 

 Its shelly fruit, its farinaceous pith (sago), and its juice abound- 

 ing in saccharine matter, and the fibres of its petioles, furnish 

 them with food, wine, and thread for making cord and weaving 



hammocks. 



" "Wide o'er liis isles, the branching Oronoque 

 Rolls a brown deluge ; and the native drives 

 To dwell aloft on hfe-siifficing trees ; 

 At once his dome, his robe, his food, and arms." 



Thomson. 



T 



