138 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



like paper, and in this form has been used for wrapping cigarettes aud cigars. It is 

 also used for cordage, for rougli clothing, and bedding by the natives of many South 

 American countries. In the recently published pamphlet by Dr. Gadea on the sub- 

 ject of the employment by natives of South America of '■ Damajuhato " fiber from 

 species of Couratari. the following account is given of the manner in which the bast 

 is secured. 



By means of a knife or other sharp instrument they make two cuts in the bark of 

 the tree at different heights, surrounding the entire tree, and then another cut longi- 

 tudinal to the first. They then tear or strip off these sections of the bark, pound 

 it and wash it to separate the parenchyma from the fiber, thus obtaining a textile 

 substance of the quality we have described in this report. In other cases they 

 loosen the bark by continued blows or beating. At the present time in the forest 

 region many tribes use garments of bark. Some of the blankets appear as if made 

 from soft pliable leather, others look like cotton. We see. therefore, that the sav- 

 ages use the LI anchama, Damajuhato, Tahuari, etc., for bed blankets, for garments, 

 for cordage, and the more civilized use it for carpets, mats, and to take the place of 

 paper in wrapping cigarettes. 



According to this authority the fiber is known among the natives of Peru as Dama- 

 juhato in Gaen, Llanchama in Maranon and Loreto, and Tahuari in Loreto. In Bo- 

 livia and portions of Peru, the fiber is called Cdscara above the Madeira, and Bihoci 

 in Beni, Mamore, Abuna, and Madre de Dios. In Brazil, Tauari on the Amazon, and 

 Jequitiba in Matto Grosso, and Irabirussu in Bahia. In Colombia it is Talaja. and 

 in French Guiana it bears the name Ingipipa, Coin-atari, and Oulemari, the latter 

 name being used by the Galibis Indians. In Venezuela it is Courimari. In the geog- 

 raphy of Peru a species of Couratari found in the Province of Jaen is mentioned, 

 which is called Damajuhato. "the bark of which is a ductile fiber that serves for 

 making cloth or blankets/' One of these blankets is described as being two yards 

 long and three yards wide. Professor Eaimondi, in his work on Pern, describing 

 the people of the Iquitos, mentions the Llanchama, "a species of cloth made from 

 the bark of a tree, which serves them for beds and many other uses." 



The women of the tribe of the Churruyes, of Colombia, use the bark of the Tataja 

 in the fashioning of a sort of garment called furquina, which is secured to the 

 shoulders by strands of palm fiber, probably an Astrocaryum. "The fiber is sepa- 

 rated by blows and jerks into sheets, resembling cloth, which, when rubbed, washed, 

 and exposed to the sun and clew, becomes light in color and flexible.*' The garment 

 is sometimes dyed red. Some of the Indians of Peru and Bolivia make shirts of the 

 fiber {Bihoci); these being dyed in red and other colors. In many other works of 

 travel, relating to the regions where species of Couratari are found, references to 

 the fiber are frequently made under one or another of the native names already 

 recorded. 



C. guianensis is also called Tauari in Guiana, and produces a textile fiber used for 

 many purposes. C. estrellensis furnishes a wood used in naval construction ''and 

 produces a coarse hemp." C. legalis, also prized for its timber, yields a fiber. This 

 tree is known in Brazil as jequitiba. 



Courimari (see Couratari). 



Cowania mexicana. 



Exogen. Rosacea?. A small shrub. 



The plants of the genus are found in Mexico and Peru, and the species named also 

 occurs in southwestern United States. It is an interesting shrub about 2 feet high 

 when mature, with alternate small narrow leaves, the edges turned down ; covered 

 with glands on the upper surface, and on the lower, white with fine down. The 

 flowers are numerous and of a yellow color. 



Bast Fiber. — This tree, before the advent of Europeans, was the great source from 

 which the Nevada and Utah Indians obtained the materials for their dress goods. 



