ROTH] : TRADE AND BARTER 637 
$29. In the early days the following particulars of the articles 
usually bartered to the Dutch by the Akawai have been noted: Bal- 
sam capivi [Copatfera officinalis], a balsam called Arrecocerra [Pro- 
tiwm aracouchili|, hai-ari roots, oil of Caraba | Carapa guianensis 
. different kinds of curious woods, letter wood [Brosimum|, 
ducolla-bolla [ ? Dukalli-balli], ebony, likewise vanilla, annatto | Bixva 
orellana|, Cassia fistularis, Canella alba, wild nutmeg, wild cin- 
namon, monkeys, parrots, parroquets, etc. In return, the Dutch 
gave them India salempores with which they cover their nudity, 
hatchets, knives, fishhooks, combs, and small looking-glasses, together 
with beads of red coral on which they put an immoderate value, and 
glass beads of different colors (BA, 263, 269). Attention had already 
been drawn to the letter-wood by Harcourt, who wrote: “There is 
also a red speckled wood in that Countrie called Pira timinere, which 
is worth thirtie or fortie pounds a Tun. It is excellent for Joyner’s 
work” (HR, 385). Silk grass (Bromelia), the pero of the old Span- 
iards and flax of the English (JW, 349-350), seems likewise to have 
been an important article of commerce in the early days, if only to 
judge by what Leigh says of it: “ At my arrivall here I found a 
Dutch shippe, and sithence here have arrived another; they buye up 
all the Flaxe they can get, and pay so deere that I can get none; 
yet they have not gotten so little I thinke as ten tunnes of Flaxe 
within these two months” (LC, 320). In more modern times the 
bladder of the gilbagre (Practocephalus) has been and is still a not 
insignificant article of British Guiana and Surinam trade (App, 
ir, 126). 
