106 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



The following circumstance is related in proof of 

 the strength of the cordage made from this material. 

 A rope thus composed had been in constant use 

 during many years upon the wharf of the city of 

 Paraiba, where it was employed for embarking 

 merchandize, and it retained its strength unimpaired. 

 On one occasion the heavy anchors belonging to a 

 line-of-battle-ship were hoisted on board a vessel with 

 this same old rope, after hempen cables of a larger 

 diameter had been found inefficient for the purpose. 

 This material is not so liable as most other vegetable 

 fibres to be injured by constant immersion in water, 

 being protected by a kind of resinous matter, with 

 which the filaments are naturally covered*. Both 

 these properties of strength and durability in this 

 material, may be proved by inquiry, at the present 

 time, in the Isle of Wight. A Portuguese vessel 

 from Brazil came on shore some years since, and the 

 fishermen obtained a good deal of rope which she 

 had on board. It is still in use amongst them ; and 

 some, which is occasionally fished up, is as strong as 

 that which has not been exposed to the action of the 

 water. This property, which is well known to the 

 natives of Brazil, causes it to be preferred by the 

 fishermen for their nets, and they increase its power 

 of resisting water by tanning the threads of their nets 

 with the bark of some of their native trees, a practice 

 recommended by Dr. Roxburgh as a preservative to 

 cordage, and recently fully proved to be of great 

 efficacy. 



A process for tanning ropes has just been made 

 the subject for a patent in this country. 



Mr. W. Roxburgh in an excursion among the 

 Jlajemahl hills observed the bowstrings of the 



* A Dissertation upon the Plants of Brazil, &c., by Dr. Manoel 

 Arruda Da Camera, as quoted from Roster's Brazil. 



