532 The Andes and the Amazons. 



textile plants. 



PiASSABA (called "Chapaja" in Peru aud "Chiquichi- 

 qui" in Venezuela) is the fibrous covering of the stem of 

 Leojpoldinia jpiassaha, which grows in swampy lauds along 

 the black-water tributaries of the Rio Negro. It is exten- 

 sively used for cables, for which it is admirably fitted, as 

 it is light and durable. It sells at Manaos for 12 cents a 

 kilogram. It is exported in the rough to England and the 

 United States, where it is made into brooms. Another 

 Piassaba of commerce, but coarser, is obtained from the 

 Attalea funifera of South Brazil. 



Pita (so called in Ecuador, in Peru "Cabuya") is made 

 from the macerated fibrous leaves of a species of Agave* 

 It is manufactured most largely at Archidona, on the 

 Napo. 



EsTOPA ("Bast") is a coarse, strong fibre obtained from 

 the capsules and inner bark of several trees on the Lower 

 Amazons — as the Castanheiro, Cocoa-nut (called " coir" in 

 commerce), Cecropiapeltata,ia.\2ivi and Tuciim. 



Tlie leaves of the Mieiti, a majestic palm, growing on 

 all the flooded lands, furnish the material of which string 

 for the manufacture of hammocks is made. 



The Chambiea (an Astrocaryxbm) is used for the same 

 purpose by the Zaparos, on the Napo. 



A strong, silky fibre is obtained from the inner bark of 

 the Uaissima, a light-wooded, slender tree abounding on 

 the south side of the Lower Amazons. 



The natives make a " bark cloth " from the Tueuei {Cu- 

 ratari legalis) called " Cascai-a " up the Maderia, and from 

 the Lanchama on the MaraSon (Napo and Iluallaga). 

 The latter tree is about twenty inches in diameter, and 



* The Agave is not an Aloe, being an Amaryllid with lateral flowers and 

 ovaiy inferior. 



