[ 183 ] 

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



70, also 

 1367, 

 71 



The fibre long exported from the coast of Yucatan was mainly 

 derived from a Euagave to which the name of Sacqui (' Qui ' being 

 ' fibre ') was given by the Mayas, a civilized nation (see Keane in 

 Stanford's Compendium, ' Central America ') who were once the 

 ruling power from the Nicaragua Isthmus to the Vera Cruz coast- 

 belt of Mexico. Other fibres seem to have been exported also, on 

 their own merits, or mixed with the fibre of the Sacqui, which is still 

 grown in plantations on a large scale. One may have been from a 

 Furcraea, and another is called ' Istle,' but whether this 'Istle' 

 was the same as the Pita Bromelia or Silk Grass of Honduras is 

 uncertain ; through mixing of the fibres, or confusion over local 

 names Yucatan fibre has been called 'Silk grass* and ' Istle/ and a 

 Euagave has been named 'Agave Ixtli' on the assumption 

 that it is the source of ' Yucatan Istle fibre/ In 1838 Dr. Perrine, 

 then U. S. Consul at Carnpeachy, took several kinds of JSuagave 

 to the coast of Florida, and started plantations, which were ruined 

 by a Seminole incursion, and the plants have run wild ; but the 

 species which he judged best adapted for the American plantations 

 was Agave (G) of this Bulletin, i.e., Agave sisalana, Perrine, which 

 has since spread to the Bahamas, and has been introduced into 

 British India, South and East Africa, Australia, the Pacific Islands, 

 and the Philippines. Engelmann in a valuable account of this 

 group of Agaves has treated the Sacqui or Sosquil as well 

 as the Yashqui [which is (G) or Perrine's Agave] as ' varieties ' 

 of a supposed wild plant, which he further identified with a species 

 described by Miller under the name of Agave rigida. We do 

 not know what Miller's species actually was, but it certainly was 

 not Perrine's fibre Agave. There is only one Sisal Agave in India, 

 which has often prickles on the edges of the leaf, sometimes 

 many, sometimes a few only ; the best sort is entirely free of margin 

 prickles, but is liable (in this respect) to vary. The ' longifolia ' 

 of Engelmann, which is the ' Sacqui' chiefly grown in Yucatan, is 

 not known so far in India, and is a different plant from the 

 Yashqui (which is Perrine's species and the 'Sisal* of India). It 

 is doubtful if either the Sacqui or the Yashqui exists anywhere 

 except in cultivation. 



Both 'Yashqui ' (A. sisalana, Perrine) and 'Sacqui' (A. longifolia, 

 Engelmann) are grown in Yucatan, but A. sisalana, Perrine is 

 the plant that has been introduced in India, and in the Bahamas. 

 ' Bahamas Hemp' has been attribute! to 'Agave rigida var. 

 elongata', on the supposition apparently that the Sacqui had been 

 so described by Engelmann ; it is true that Engelmann supposed 

 that the Sacqui might be ' A. elongata ' of Jacobi, but his own 

 name for ' Sacqui ' was ' var. longifolia.' We distinguish these 

 plants thus : 



Sacqui, i.e., the chief ' Sisal ' of Yucatan = A. longifolia, Engel- 

 mann; 



Yashqui, i.e., -the Bahamas Hemp, and E. Indian 'Sisal'=A. 

 sisalana, Perrine. See also Henequen (3), etc. 



As compared with Agave and Furcraea species called 'Large Aloe* 

 or ' Great Aloe* See Small Aloe, and Seaside Aloe also. 



