94? SOCOTRINE ALOES. 
the roofs of houses, and its leaves the place of tiles. 
From this plant the Mexicans make thread, needles, and 
various articles of clothing and cordage : whilst from 
its juices they manufacture wine, sugar, and vinegar. 
Some parts of it they eat, and others they apply in 
medicine. 
The juice of aloes was formerly used in Eastern 
countries in embalming, to preserve dead bodies from 
putrefaction ; and, as the resinous part of this juice is 
not soluble in water, it is sometimes adopted in hot 
climates as a preservative to ships' bottoms against the 
attack of marine worms. One ounce of it mixed with 
turpentine, tallow, and white lead, is considered to be 
sufficient for covering about two superficial feet of 
plank ; and about twelve pounds are sufficient for a 
vessel of fifty tons' burthen. In proof of the efficacy 
of this method, two planks of equal thickness, and cut 
from the same tree, were placed under water, one of 
them in its natural state, and the other smeared with 
the composition above described. They were suffered 
to continue in the water eight months, and when, at 
the end of that time, they were taken out, the former 
was perforated in every part, and in a state of absolute 
decay ; whilst the latter was as perfect as at first. In 
the East Indies, the juice of these plants is used as a 
varnish, to preserve wood from the attacks of destruc- 
tive insects : and skins, and even living animals, are 
sometimes smeared with it for the same purpose. 
There is a tract of mountains, about fifty miles north 
of the Cape of Good Hope, which is wholly covered 
with aloes. Among the Mahometans, and particularly 
in Egypt, the aloe is a kind of symbolic plant : it is de- 
dicated to the offices of religion; and pilgrims, on their 
return from Mecca, suspend it over their doors, as a 
declaration that they have performed that holy journey. 
107. SOCOTRINE ALOES are the dried juice of a large 
species of aloe (Aloe perfoliata, Fig. 38) which grows in great 
abundance in the island of Socotra, near the mouth of the 
Red Sen. 
