APPEND.] 



TUCUM. 



355 



grows so plentifully in marshes that many are covered 

 with it. 



The substance of the stem of the plant is spongy, and 

 full of an acid juice which acts upon metals ; some of 

 the peasants use this in cleaning their knives, firelocks, 

 &c. This is- only the use to which the plant has, as 

 yet, been applied; but from the experiments which I 

 have made upon it, I am persuaded that it may be ren- 

 dered serviceable in the manufacture of cordage of great 

 strength. 



As the fibres are placed in the pulp longitudinally, 

 and are slightly fixed to it, the operations of beating 

 and washing will separate them entirely. I have not 

 made any experiments as to the durability of the 

 cordage. 



Tucum. This is the name which is given to a species 

 of palm-tree, but I have not yet been able to acquaint 

 myself with what genus it belongs to. Piso speaks of 

 it, giving a bad print of it and a worse description. 

 Manoel Ferreira da Camara in his Descrip. Jisica da 

 Comarca dos llheos, exaggerates the utility of the fibre 

 of the plant. I tried to obtain the fibre from the leaves 

 in a dry state, or, as the peasants term it, suado (sweat- 

 ed). I held with the left hand the point of the leaf, and 

 with the right rather lower down, I doubled it as if I 

 was going to break it, at the same time pulling it. After 

 it was broken, there remained in my left hand some 

 fibres, which had been loosened from the inner sur- 

 face of the leaf. I soon saw that this would not 

 do, for one person would not be able to extract more 

 than one eight of a lb. of fibre in the course of the 

 day; therefore 1 1 had recourse to maceration, but this 

 A A 2 



