30 



of sago from the stem and cordage from the fiber of the leaf- 

 bases. One other palm is worth mention, an unnamed Asiatic 

 species of Calamus. An inextricable mass of its climbing stems 

 and long shiny foliage sprawled up a great dead tree, the plant 

 measuring over all perhaps 90 feet high and 70 feet wide. Scores 

 of its slender stems, no thicker than a broomstick had climbed 

 down to the ground and were sprawled over the lawn and all 

 but barricading one of the paths. 



Whole sections of the garden are devoted to Bromeliaceae, 

 and hundreds more are epiphytic on palm stems, trees, fence 

 posts, and even in the gutters of adjacent buildings. Few of 

 these were in flower at this season (December) which is at the 

 beginning of Rio's spring. Nor, except for Cattleya and Laelia, 

 which are everywhere hawked about Rio in gorgeous profusion, 

 are any of the orchid collection in flower. The orchid house 

 consists only of a greenhouse-like frame, screened with chicken 

 wire. 



There is, too, a large section devoted to medicinal plants, 

 among them the wholly unknown (in America) Guaraiia 

 (Paullinia cupana) from the seeds of which a paste and powder 

 have been made for three hundred years. It is widely used in 

 Brazil as a fatigue destroyer and has been investigated by 

 Metchnikofif. Dr. Roquette-Pinto, Director of the National 

 Museum at Rio assures me that its value is unquestioned, and 

 that, like coffee, it leaves no deleterious after affects. It con- 

 tains about three times the amount of caffeine in coffee, and is 

 used to flavor a nationally used soft drink, Guarand. 



The charm of Rio's garden does not depend upon the plants 

 I have mentioned, nor upon hundreds of others, but upon the 

 way they have been used. While scores are grown as individual 

 specimens on the lawn, many are grouped in great masses. 

 There has been effective and judicious use of statues, fountains, 

 water, bridges and grottoes so that quite apart from its scientific 

 value the garden is a much appreciated place of quiet retreat. 

 It is extremely well policed and these are signs in Portuguese. 

 French and a few in English to warn or help visitors. 



Of course there is a library and herbarium, the latter, 

 to minimize insect depredations, is kept in hundreds of tin 

 boxes, which is cumbersome but absolutely necessary in a 

 building, with no glass windows or screens and in a country 



