/BRAZILIAN PALM WAX. 249 



a bees'-wax-looking substance, are put whole into a 

 pot of boiling water, to the surface of which, in due 

 time, the wax ascends and is skimmed off. The 

 JDutch settlers use the material for candles ; but the 

 Hottentots, who are very fond of it, eat it like a cake, 

 with or without meat. It is somewhat softer than 

 bees'-wax, and of a dirtyish grey colour. 



Myrtle wax is not now an article of commerce 

 to England, but it has been deemed of sufficient 

 consequence to be included in the list of imports on 

 which a duty is levied. The tax laid upon its im- 

 portation is one shilling per Ib. 



CARNAUBA, OR CORYPHA CERIFERA. 



This is a species of palm from which wax is 

 obtained. It grows in the Brazils, rising to the 

 height of thirty feet. The low lands upon the banks 

 of some of the rivers are covered with these trees. 

 The leaves are two feet in length, and while young 

 are folded in the manner of a fan; when they 

 afterwards expand they are nearly two feet in 

 breadth. If they are cut from the tree as soon as 

 they have reached their full growth, and are placed 

 to dry in the shade, a considerable quantity of small 

 light-coloured scales will be loosened from their sur- 

 face. These fuse on the application of heat at 206 

 Fahrenheit, and thence take the appearance of wax. 

 It is of a pale straw colour, and when cold is hard 

 and brittle. Alcohol, unless heated, has no power 

 of dissolving this wax ; fixed oils, at the temperature 

 of boiling water, cause its solution. The specific 

 gravity of this vegetable product is '980. It pos- 

 sesses most of the properties of bees'-wax, and, made 

 into candles, burns well with a steady light. The 

 addition of from one-eighth to one-tenth part of 

 tallow is sufficient to obviate its brittleness without 



