i85i.] THE P1ASSABA PALM. 167 



(a branch of the Rio Negro about five hundred miles above 

 Barra), it is found on several rivers, but never on the banks 

 of the main stream itself. A great part of the population of 

 the Upper Rio Negro is employed in obtaining the fibre 

 for exportation; and I thus became acquainted with all the 

 localities in which it is found. These are the rivers Padauari, 

 Jaha, and Daraha" on the north bank of the Rio Negro, and 

 the Mari and Xie* on the south. The other two rivers, the 

 Maraviha" and Cababuris, on the north, have not a tree; 

 neither have the Curicuriarf, Uaupes, and Isanna, on the 

 south, though they flow between the Marie and the Xie, where 

 it abounds. In the whole of the district about the Upper Rio 

 Negro above Sao Carlos, and about the Atabapo and its 

 branches, it is abundant, and just behind the village of Tdmo 

 was where I first saw it. It grows in moist places, and is 

 about twenty or thirty feet high, with the leaves large, pinnate, 

 shining, and very smooth and regular. The whole stem is 

 covered with a thick coating of the fibres, hanging down like 

 coarse hair, and growing from the bases of the leaves, which 

 remain attached to the stem. Large parties of men, women, 

 and children go into the forests to cut this fibre. It is exten- 

 sively used in its native country for cables and small ropes for 

 all the canoes and larger vessels on the Amazon. Humboldt 

 alludes to this plant by the native Venezuelan name of 

 Chfquichiqui, but does not appear to have seen it, though he 

 passed along this road. I believe it to be a species of Leo- 

 poldinia^ of which two other kinds occur in the Rio Negro 

 and, like this tree, are found there only. I could not find 

 it in flower or fruit, but took a sketch of its general appearance, 

 and have called it Leopoldinia Piassaba, from its native name, 

 in the greater part of the district which it inhabits. 



On approaching the end of the road I came to a " rhossa," 

 or cleared field, where I found a tall, stout Indian planting 

 cassava. He addressed me with "Buenos dias," and asked 

 me where I was going, and if I wanted anything at the village, 

 for that the Commissario was away, and he was the Capitao. 

 i replied in the best Spanish I could muster up for the 

 occasion, and we managed to understand each other pretty 

 well. He was rather astonished when I told him I was going 

 to stay at the village, and seemed very doubtful of my inten- 

 tions. I informed him, however, that I was a " Naturalista," 



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