COQUITA SHRUB. 219 



.part, to endeavour to re-establish his health; 

 this district being considered particularly- 

 salubrious. We stopped and entered into 

 conversation with him, particularly on the 

 various kinds of mines discovered in the 

 neighbourhood ; he gave us a good deal of 

 information, and appeared to have a most 

 speculative turn. I was particularly pleased 

 with his manner, which was easy, and even 

 courteous. He was dressed like ourselves, 

 with long military boots, a roana, and 

 broad-brimmed straw-hat, with a white 

 handkerchief tied round the head, the ends 

 hanging down behind. We now waded 

 through a shallow river, and passed the vil- 

 lage of Tinhagua, where a great quantity 

 of the Coquita shrub is grown, from which 

 is made the rope generally used in the 

 country. It is very w^hite, and serviceable, 

 and sold at the moderate price of three 

 halfpence for two fathoms of a half-inch 

 rope. 



