1851.] 
THE PIASSABA PALM, 
243 
found. These are the rivers Padauari, Jaha, and Daraha 
on the north bank of the Hio Negro, and the Marie and 
Xie on the south. The other two rivers, the Maraviha 
and Cababuris, on the north, have not a tree; neither 
have the Curicnriari, Uaupes, and Isanna, on the south, 
though they flow between the Marie and the Xie, where 
it abounds. In the whole of the district about the Upper 
Rio Negro above Sao Carlos, and about the Atabapo and 
its branches, it is abundant, and just behind the village 
of Tonio was where I first saw it. It grows in moist 
places, and is about twenty or thirty feet high, with the 
leaves large, pinnate, shining, and very smooth and re- 
gular. The whole stem is covered with a thick coating 
of the fibres, hanging down like coarse hair, and growing 
from the bases of the leaves, which remain attached to 
the stem. Large parties of men, women, and children 
go into the forests to cut this fibre. It is extensively 
used in its native country for cables and small ropes for 
all the canoes and larger vessels on the Amazon. Hum- 
boldt alludes to this plant by the native Venezuelan name 
of Chiquichiqui, but does not appear to have seen it, 
though he passed along this road. I believe it to be a 
species of Leopoldinia, of which two other kinds occur in 
the Rio Negro, and, like this tree, are found there only. 
I could not find it in flower or fruit, but took a sketch 
of its general appearance, and have called it Leopoldinia 
Piassaba, from its native name, in the greater part of 
the district which it inhabits. 
On approaching the end of the road, I came to a 
“ rhossa,” or cleared field, where I found a tall, stout In- 
dian, planting cassava. He addressed me with “Buenos 
11 2 
