[ 129 ] 

 Afjaveae (also certain other fibre plants) or to their products. 



! Bulletin, 

 page 



17,22 



RKMABKS 



17, 22 



17 



See Caraguata (1) and the following. 



From the works of Humboldt and Martius it, appears that several 

 different kinds of fibre known in S. America under variations 

 of the word ISmbira, e.g., Imbira, Ibera, and their compounds 

 (e.g., Macembira) are obtained from species of Ananas, Bromelia, 

 Funifera (Nat. Ord Thymelacea), LecytMs (N. O. Myrtaceee), 

 Apaiba (N. O. Tiliaceds), and Bombax (N. O. Malvaceae}. These 

 'Einbira* fibres are apt to be confused with each other and with 

 those of the Agaveae, See also Macembira, and Caraguata (1). 



A patch of Istle cultivation, or Pinuella farm, so called in the country 

 bordering on the Gulf of Campeachy (see the next and Ixtle). 



Spon, under Nidularium Karatas (see Ixtle), following partly! Squir, 

 partly independent authorities, notes that a Bromeliad yields a good 

 and cheap fibre called ' Ixtle* in Mexico. This has been called in 

 question, but is certainly correct (see the next and Ixtle), ' Istle' is a 

 simpler way of spelling 'Ixtle,' where the * x' is the Spanish equiv- 

 alent for certain sounds of f s.' Istle, Itzle, Ixtli, Ixtly, Ixtilli, 

 Iztl, Ystle, Yztli are apparently one word in various disguises, 

 but unfortunately the same shape has come in cases to mean very dif- 

 ferent things, if not on the spot, at all events in markets and offices. 



The plant which the Chief Justice of Honduras brought to notice so 

 far back as 1857 was undoubtedly one of the Bromeliaceee, and there 

 is little doubt that it yields a long fine fibre of superior quality. 

 Later evidence shows that this plant or another closely resembling 

 it is found in abundance all along the sub-tropical coast belt from 

 the Gulf of Campeachy to the Vera Cruz neighbourhood. What 

 ' Bromelia sylvestris* may be and what the Istle plant is (if 

 there be only one species in the tract mentioned), we have no 

 immediate knowledge; but Sir D. Morris* matured opinion 

 points to the Karatas Plumieri of Morren Nidularium Karatas 

 of Lemaire (see the preceding, Caraguata (1) and connected 

 references). This plant is identical, as we suppose, with a 

 Bromeliad which is established in the Sibpur Garden and seems 

 vi-ry much at home in its surroundings, but this is not known to 

 have been raised on a commercial scale as yet in India". This staple 

 would probably have taken better hold in the U. S. A. and in 

 the English colonies but fcr a series of mistakes as to local names 

 and geography. It has been confounded with the small Agaves 

 of the ' Tampico fibre ' series [see Ixtle (3), Tampico fibre, etc.], 

 though these are produced in a totally different, part of Central 

 America; also with the fibre Evagaves of the Yucatan Peninsula 

 [see Bromelia Pita, Silk Grass, Sisal Hemp, etc.]; and, further, 

 with the Bromelia Pinguin of Linne, ('Penguin' of the West 

 Indies), which produces a fruit, but a very sorry fibre apparently 

 [See Caraguata (1) of Piso]. The ' Pita Bromelia' (i.e., Honduras 

 Istle) seeins to be known in the local Spanish very generally as 

 Pinuella (pronounced ' Pinyuella '). Pina (pinya) is the pine- 

 apple ; Pinuella represents one or more ' wild pineapples ' or fibre- 

 yielding Bromeliads. 



