ON THE ECONOMIC USES OF LEAVES. 197 



through the post-office. During the operation of writing the leaf ia 

 supported by the left hand, and the letters scratched upon the surface 

 with the stylus. ("Marshall on the coco-nut.) 



Instead of moving the hand with which they write towards the 

 right, they move the leaf in a contrary direction, by means of the 

 thumb of the left hand. To render the characters more legible, the 

 engraved lines are frequently filled by besmearing the leaf with fresh 

 cowdung, which is tinged black by rubbing the lines over with coco- 

 nut oil, or a mixture of oil and charcoal powder. The natives can write 

 standing as well as walking, and they rarely use tablets. Palm-leaves, 

 and perhaps the leaves of trees that do not belong to this natural class, 

 were much used by the ancients as writing materials ; hence the word 

 leaf{oi a book) is synonymous with that of a tree. 



The leaves of Sabal Mexicana, Mart., are used for making hats 

 and mats, the dried leaves used for platting being called "petates." 

 They are prepared for platting by being dried and bleached in the sun, 

 and then reduced to narrow shreds. 



The leaves of Coryplia inermis are devoted to the same purpose. 



The large, broad fronds of the well-known fan palm of Ceylon 

 (Corypha umbraculifera) are used for thatching, and also for writing on 

 with an iron style. Such records are said to resist the ravages of time. 

 The dried leaf is very strong, and is commonly used for umbrellas by 

 all classes. It opens and shuts like a lady's fan, and is remarkably 

 light. 



An entire leaf of the Mauritia Jlexuosa, a Brazilian palm, is a load 

 for a man. The unopened leaves form a thick, pointed column. Ac- 

 cording to Wallace, this is cut down, and, by a little shaking, the tender 

 segments fall apart ; each one is then skilfully stripped of its outer 

 covering, a thin, ribbon-like pellicle, of a pale yellow colour, which 

 shrivels up almost into a thread ; these are then tied in bundles and 

 dried, and are afterwards twisted, by rolling on the breast, as though 

 into string, or with the fingers into thicker cords. The article most 

 commonly made from it is the " rede," or netted hammock, the almost 

 universal bed of the native tribes of the Amazon. This is formed by 

 doubling the string over two rods, or poles, about six or seven feet 

 apart, till there are forty or fifty parallel threads, which are then 

 secured, at intervals of about a foot, by cross strings, twisted and tied 

 on to a very longitudinal one, a strong cord is then passed through the 

 loop formed by all the strings brought together at each end, by which 

 the hammock is hung up a few feet from the ground ; and in this open 

 cot the naked Indian sleeps beside his fire as comfortably as we do in 

 our beds of down. Other tribes twist the strings together in a compli- 

 cated manner, so that the hammock is more elastic ; and the Brazilians 

 have introduced a variety of improvements, by using a kind of knitting- 

 needle, producing a close kind of web, or by a large wooden frame 

 with rollers, in which they weave in a rude manner with a woof and 



