THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Oct. 1, 1864. 



120 PRODUCTS OF THE MONTANA OF PERU. 



classes ; onions ; purslain ; mint ; maize ; gourds ; cocona, similar to 

 the orange of Quito ; mashantuesi, a tree which yields a fruit of the size 

 of an orange ; nuchuesi, a plant, yielding potatoes from its roots equal 

 to the famous ones of Huamantanga of Lima, called yellow potatoes ; 

 sachapapa, a species of white potato. 



The bomhanaje, a palm of which hats are made like those of 

 Guyaquil ; agave ; vanilla ; cotton ; long bejuco, yielding oil ; 

 tobacco, &c. 



Barbasco, the root of which is poisonous, used by the savages for 

 fishing, thrown into the water it operates as a narcotic ; sami, whose 

 leaves give a blue dye ; Uangua, useful for the same purpose ; mis- 

 piganga, whose fruit is like a small black ball and is used for dyeing ; 

 casha, huasca, bejuco, of thirty yards in length, very elastic, and the 

 women use it, when washing, instead of soap. 



Ayac-mullaca, a kind of thorn, its leaves and fruit serve for soap ; 

 achupa, odorous fruit, and which gives a colour ; huito or jagua, a high 

 and thin shrub, of the trunk of which spoons are made, the fruit is 

 eaten green ; it dyes the hair a strong black ; llanchama, the bark of 

 which is so flexible, that, after cutting and pounding, it stretches like cloth ; 

 quimba, a tree forty-five feet high, its fruit not unlike cotton ; sebo de 

 macoa, its fruit the shape of little green balls, which yield grease or fat 

 when cooked or pressed ; sapaja, a tree like a palm, its leaves, from their 

 hardness, serve for combs, colour yellow, and opaque like tortoiseshell ; 

 tamsi, very strong and elastic. 



The fruits are those of the torrid zone, and very agreeable, a few may 

 be mentioned, such as the marahon-castra, whose fruit is of the size of 

 an egg, and yellow ; chiope, a dark green tree, fruit of agreeable taste ; 

 gallo, similar to the tumbo ; simbillo, like the French bean ; runfinde, 

 same as preceding ; gigma, root similar to the sweet potato; chachuela, 

 like a nut, yellow husk and white in the interior, has a sort of bitter- 

 sweet taste. 



In the mineral kingdoms there are many washings of gold ; there 

 are also quicksilver, copper, iron, lead, &c. 



This department is also rich in animals, most of them peculiar to 

 the country and unknown elsewhere. 



The temperature or climate varies according to place, since, as already 

 mentioned, two chains of mountains traverse it, one on the east and the 

 other on the west of Chachapoyas, the capital. Rarely the thermometer 

 passes 30° centigrade, or descends below 27°. Notwithstanding, it is 

 said to be healthy, except on the margins of the Huallaga, Ucayali, and 

 Maranon. 



Industry is very backward in this department from the abundance 

 and cheapness of articles necessary for subsistence, the want of roads, &c. 



With respect to the province of Loreto, it is situated to the north of 

 Peru, and occupies an extent of ground so large that it almost equals in 

 surface all the rest of the departments of Peru put together. Its Limits 



