214  ON  CARYPHA  PUMOS. 
find.  It  was  obtained  from  a  tree,  40—60  feet  high,  growing  in 
the  sandj  soil  of  Surinam.  From  this  variety  of  palm  the  na- 
tives prepare  their  salt  by  burning  the  stems  cut  up  in  logs,  boil- 
ing the  resulting  ashes  in  water,  straining,  and  evaporating  the 
solution  in  iron  vessels.  The  moist  mass  which  remains  behind, 
and  which  is  a  very  impure  substance,  containing,  besides  chloride 
of  sodium,  carbonate  of  soda,  sulphate  of  potash,  and  a  large 
portion  of  carbonate  of  potash,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  analyses, 
is  pressed  in  round  masses  several  inches  in  diameter,  afterwards 
wrapped  in  palm  leaf  and  stored  for  use.  The  Indian  when 
hunting  always  carries  with  him  one  or  several  of  these  balls  sus- 
pended by  a  cord  from  his  waist." 
The  author  then  describes  his  plan  of  getting  the  palm  ashes, 
as  follows: — "The  dry  palm  wood,  after  being  freed  from  all  ad- 
herent impurities,  was  cut  up  in  small  pieces,  which  were  burned 
at  as  low  a  temperature  as  possible  in  a  shallow  dish,  by  which 
process  it  was  mostly  carbonized.  This  mass  was  lixiviated 
with  distilled  water  to  remove  the  chlorides  and  the  carbonates 
of  the  alkalies,  as  they  prevent  by  their  ready  fusibility  the  com- 
plete combustion  of  the  particles  of  carbon  still  diffused  through 
the  mass,  and  might  at  the  same  time  partly  be  lost  on  account 
of  the  volatility  of  the  chlorides.  A  current  of  carbonic  acid 
was  passed  through  the  liquid  to  destroy  the  causticity  of  any 
free  alkali.  The  filter  containing  the  carbonized  matter  was 
dried  and  burned  in  a  platinum  crucible  until  all  combustible 
matter  disappeared.  The  crucible  was  then  allowed  to  cool,  and 
its  contents  washed  into  the  solution,  and  the  whole  evaporated 
in  a  silver  dish  to  perfect  dryness."  This  dry  mass  was  pow- 
dered and  well  mixed,  and  constituted  the  subject  of  the  analysis, 
which  resulted  as  follows  : 
1.801  grms.  of  ash  gave  0.3187  grins,  of  Carbonic  acid. 
"  «  0.1683  «  of  Silicic  acid. 
"  for  PO5  "  0.0874  "  of  Pyrophosphate  of  magnesia. 
"  "  0.0822  "  of  Protosesquioxide  of  manganese. 
"  "  0.0609  "  of  Sesquioxide  of  iron. 
"  for  MgO  "  0.3036  "  of  Pyrophosphate  of  magnesia. 
"  «  0.2111  "  of  Carbonate  of  lime. 
"  "  1.4280  "  of  Chloroplatinate  of  potassium. 
"  "  0.6141  "  of  Chloride  of  sodium. 
0.890  grms.  of  ash  gave 
«  «  0.0489  "       Sulphate  of  baryta. 
«  "  0.5844  "      Chloride  of  silver. 
