THE CARNAUBA PALM. 



281 



agricultural produce for export ; for dragging in imported merchan- 

 dise ; for halters and ties for animals ; for nets, and a variety of other 

 purposes. We may certainly set down carnauba cordage at one-third 

 of the whole used in the province. The ropes of this palm fibre, 

 strong and handsome, have not yet entered into foreign commerce. 

 The young leaves have also another and very general use in the pro- 

 vince, and in many of the seaports of Brazil. A great number of 

 articles are made of straw in Europe for which the fibre of this palm 

 is usually substituted in Brazil. Thus, they make of it, and sell 

 at very moderate prices, hats, mats, baskets, brooms, mattresses, &c. 

 These are all in frequent and common use, and are carried by sea 

 along the coast, as well as the leaves for making them. Thus, in the 

 year 1857, there were shipped from the ports of Ceara and Aracati 

 30,625 mats, and about half a million leaves of carnauba, officially 

 valued at 1500Z. Another frequent use for these leaves is to make a 

 kind of cushion for the back of beasts of burden, to prevent the load 

 injuring the animal. The dry leaves are also employed for thatching 

 cottages. In Ceara and the adjoining provinces, one-third of the 

 houses are covered with these leaves, which are remarkable for their 

 lightness, elegance, and durability, and form an impermeable thatch. 



As evidence of the wasteful destruction of the leaves by burning, 

 the following estimate may be given. A dry leaf, with the pedicle 

 removed, weighs 134 grammes. The wax powder removed from a 

 leaf is on the average 6 ' 75 grammes. The number of leaves burnt in 

 1863, calculated on the yield of 2,000,000 kilogrammes, gives 

 296,444,446. The weight of leaves at 134 grammes each would be 

 39,723,555 kilogrammes. The immense quantity of textile material 

 thus lost might be easily utilized for cordage, straw, &c. It only 

 involves the cost of collection, which may be set down at less than 

 2d. per cwt. on the spot. The locality where it could be had in most 

 abundance is the town of Limoeiro, about 10 or 12 miles from the 

 port of Aracati, for the carriage road between the two is bordered by 

 carnauba palms. An attentive examination of this fibre, and its 

 •abundance, suggests its utility as a paper-making substance. The 

 scarcity of rags is becoming greater daily, therefore any raw material 

 that can supply their place is a boon to the paper trade. 



The wood of the carnauba is very useful. Not only is it generally 

 employed as a carpentry wood, but it is esteemed for joiners' and 

 cabinet work. It is very hard, of a yellowish red, traversed with black 

 veins, is susceptible of a fine polish, and occasionally offers black 

 shades of a handsome effect. For general carpenters' work not 

 exposed to the inclemency of the seasons the wood answers admirably, 

 for in such positions it is indestructible. It has nothing to fear from 

 gnawing animals if it is felled at maturity. But if exposed to the 

 weather its duration is precarious, and it decays in from ten to fifteen 

 years. To make amends for this, it is most durable in salt water, and 

 is much esteemed for piles, palisades, &c., from its great resistance. 

 There have been removed from old marine constructions, abandoned 

 more than a century, piles of this wood in a thorough state of pre- 

 servation. The carnauba would also be suitable for yards of vessels, 

 as it is perfectly cylindrical, of an equal thickness throughout its 

 length, and very elastic. M. Manoel Dias, of Aracati, thus speaks 



