370 



CARNAUBA. 



[append. 



in length, and are doubled after the manner of a fan, 

 whilst they are yet young ; afterwards they open, and 

 become of little less than two feet in breadth. If they 

 are cut in this state, and are allowed to dry in the 

 shade, a considerable quantity of small light-coloured 

 scales will be loosened from the surface. These will 

 melt by the hent of a fire into white wax, of which it 

 possesses the properties ; it is however more brittle, but 

 this may be remedied by mixing it with the common 

 wax, which is more oily. In 1 797 I made known this 

 discovery to the R. P. M. Fr. Joze Marianno da Con- 

 ceicam Vellozo, who published the account of it in the 

 Paladio Portuguez ; but at that time I was not so well 

 aware as I am now of the importance of the wax. 



The fruit of this tree when ripe is black and shining, 

 and of the size of eggs of tame pigeons. The kernel is 

 covered with a layer of sweet pulp, which is eaten by 

 cattle, as are also the dry leaves which fall when other 

 food fails. The leaves are used for covering houses, and 

 although thus exposed to the weather, they last for 

 twenty years without requiring to be renewed. The stem 

 is made use of for building houses, for fences, pens, &c. * 



* In the Philosophical Transactions for 1811 is given, " An Ac- 

 count of a Vegetable Wax from Brazil," by William Thomas 

 Brande, Esq. F.R.S. The work from which I extract part of the 

 account is Nicholson's Journal, Vol. xxxi. p. 14. 



" The vegetable wax described in this paper was given to the Pre- 

 sident by Lord Grenville, with a wish on the part of His Lordship, 

 that its prop< rties should be investigated, in the hope that it might 

 prove a useful substitute for bees' wax, and constitute in due time 

 a new article of commerce between Brazil and this country. It was 

 transmitted to Lord Grenville from Rio de Janeiro by the Conde 

 das Galveas*, as a new article lately brought to that city f , from the 



* This nobletr.an is since dead. 



f It was sent to Rio de Janeiro by Francisco de Paula Cavalcantc de 

 Albuquerque, Governor of Rio Grande do Norte. 



