30 FOREST CONDITIONS OF PORTO RICO. 



ENDOGENOUS TREES USED FOR YARIOUS PURPOSES. 



There are many species of palm upon the island, and as these trees 

 are perhaps the most used by the natives of all the forest products, it 

 is necessary to mention them. Combined in them are sustenance, 

 clothing, and utensils for the natives of the Tropics. In Porto Eico 

 the leaf of the palm is largely used for thatch and sheathing of the 

 houses of the poor, and its broad leaves for wash tubs and other domes- 

 tic utensils. The following notes upon the x^alms are mostly taken from 

 Fray lingo's Historia, 1 and although not modern they are instructive. 



The Palma Moriche (Gocos mauritia) grows in damp, marshy soil from 

 sea level to an altitude of 300 varas. 2 In this palm the Guaraunos 

 Indians, who inhabit islands in the mouths of the Orinoco, find all that 

 is necessary for food, drink, and clothing: for building their houses and 

 furnishing them; for making their boats, ropes, and sails for their navi- 

 gation, and apparatus for fishing and hunting. Concerning the uses of 

 the Moriche or Sago palm, it has been said that "when the heat of sun> 

 mer has parched everything about this tree, travelers find at its roots 

 water always cool, which escapes from subterranean veins. The most 

 tender part of its fruit center serves as a garden vegetable to the 

 natives, and from its young shoots they draw the cords which form 

 their fish nets and from which they weave their hammocks. It is a 

 refreshing nourishment before its fruit is matured, and when ripe it 

 makes oil, soap, and pastes, which are sweetened with honey. With 

 the dry leaves of this plant the Indians cover their huts, from its 

 sprouts they manufacture mats, blankets, hats, and sails for their ves- 

 sels. The trunk contains in its upper portion a sweet juice, from which 

 a kind of wine is produced. From the trunk, boards and sometimes 

 small boats are made. A natural texture which covers the cluster of 

 fruit before it matures serves as caps for men and as skirts for married 

 women. The palm, which does not bear fruit, furnishes a niealy pith, 

 which is called yuruma, used for making bread and also pottage or 

 soup. A thick, white worm is found in the rotten medulla, which is 

 eaten and considered a great delicacy." 



The yagua, or cabbage palm, grows on the plains and in the forests. 

 It is very useful for covering houses, is tall, of ash color, and has the 

 figure of a well-formed column; its pedestal is perfect, the trunk being 

 larger in the middle and tapering to the point where the leaves appear 

 and form a cornice, from which springs another column no less perfect, 

 about 7 feet high and 2£ feet in circumference, of an emerald-green color, 

 smooth and lustrous. The upper column of the yagua palm is denuded 

 of its bark every month, and this is called hoja dejagua (lamina or leaf 



1 Historia Geografica, Civil y Natural de la Isla de San Juan Bautista de Puerto- 

 Rico, por Fray Ifiigo Abbod y Lasierra, etc. New edition, annotated by Jose Julian 

 d Acosta y Calbo. San Juan, 1866. 



-The Spanish vara is 2.78 English feet. 



