357 



rivers than ropes of hemp. It must be preserved 

 at sea by being often wetted, and little exposed 

 to the ardor of the tropical sun. Don Antonio 

 Santos, celebrated in the country for his journey 

 in search of lake Pari ma, taught the Indians of 

 the Spanish Rio Negro, to make use of the pe- 

 tioles of the chiquichiqui, a palm-tree with pin^ 

 nate leaves, of which he saw neither the flowers 

 nor the fruit. This officer is the only white 

 man, who ever came from Angostura to Grand 

 Para, in passing by land from the sources of 

 the Rio Carony to those of the Rio Branco. 

 He had studied the mode of fabricating ropes 

 from the chiquichiqui in the Portuguese colonies; 

 and, after his return from the Amazon, he intro- 

 duced this brance of industry into the missions 

 of Guyana. It were to be wished, that exten- 

 sive rope walks could be established on the 

 banks of the Rio Negro and the Cassiquiare, in 

 order to make these cables an article of trade 

 with Europe. A small quantity is already ex- 

 ported from Angostura to the West Indies ; 

 and costs from fifty to sixty per cent less thap 

 cordage of hemp^. Young palm-trees only 



* A cable of chiquichiqui, sixty-six varas (171 pieds de roi) 

 long, and five inches four lines in diameter, costs the missionary 

 twelve great piastres j and is sold at Angostura for twenty- 

 five piastres. A rope one inch diameter, and seventy varas 

 (one hundred and eighty-two pieds de roi) long, sells in the 

 missions for three piastres ; on the coast for five. 



