^:>\io 
 
'"^"^^ NOTES 
 
 SB 241 
 
 .S16 
 
 Copy 1 IN REGARD TO 
 
 TEXTILE PLANTS OF BRAZIL, 
 
 AT 
 
 THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION 
 AT PHILADELPHIA IN 1876, 
 
 BY 
 
 JOSfi DE SALDANHA DA GAMA, PH. D. 
 
 Member of the Brazilian Commission and Professor 
 
 of Botany in the Polytechnical School 
 
 of Rio de Janeiro. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 " O Novo MuNDO " Printing Office, 39 Park Row, 
 
 "Times " Building. 
 
 1876. 
 
• J 
 
THE TEXTILE PLANTS OF BRAZIL 
 
 AT THE 
 
 UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 It is to be lamented that Brazil did not send a 
 complete selection of her textile plants, it is proper 
 however to remark, that a good number of the most 
 important species are well represented in the Agri- 
 cultural Hall, and are held in high esteem by com- 
 petent judges. But the beautiful filaments of the 
 Miisas or Banana trees, and those of Ananassa sativa, 
 which was included by us in the great Expositions of 
 Vienna and Paris, are unfortunately wanting here. 
 We have now, however, quantities of other textile 
 material, which we will immediately proceed to 
 notice : 
 
 Hemp — {CanaMs sativa.) — A European plant which 
 has been acclimated in Brazil, where it is used for 
 
1st experiment, 
 2ii(l '' 
 
 3rd " 
 
 4tli " 
 
 5th " 
 
 Averasre, 
 
 10 
 
 grammes. 
 
 15 
 
 
 14 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 19 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 n 
 
 The Piiiclayba {Xylopia sericea)^ which, in the lan- 
 guage of the native Indians, means the kook-wood, 
 contains, in its cortical layers, ribbon-like strips, sim- 
 ilar to those of the Embria (X. frutescens), both of 
 which are used by the natives to tie their fences, or 
 at best, for coarse ropes to tie their cattle. 
 
 All of these varieties of the textile elements con- 
 trast with the dark color of the false parasite, known 
 among us by the name of Barba de velho or Tilland- 
 sia iisneoides in botanical phrq^seology. From the 
 branches of this tree fall flexible twigs of this ejnj)- 
 liyta, which the country people gather up to fill 
 mattresses, pillows, cushions, and to pack porcelain 
 and glass. 
 
 They are principally adapted to the mattress- 
 maker's purj)ose, and these white downs, as well as 
 some other yellow ones, extracted from the fruit of 
 BomhaceaSj are remarkably light, and excellent mate- 
 rials for winter mattresses and pillows. We have 
 products of this nature from the Cliorisia speciosa of 
 Eio de Janeiro and from the celebrated Samahuma 
 of the Amazon, or Eriodendron, which botanist con- 
 sider the largest tree in the world. 
 
 To complete this epitomized report, we will point 
 to the three novelties in textile substances, each of 
 which is very interesting. In the first place, the 
 
— 7 — 
 
 u,iural paper from the tree Lasiandra papyrus from 
 3lie Serra Dom-ada, in tlie province of Goyaz, due 
 perhaps to successive exfoliations of the epidermis ; 
 in the second place, the seeds of an IchiteSj from the 
 province of Parana, adorned with flocks of vegetable 
 silk, similar to the Tafetone of Africa, intended for 
 felt for hats; finally, the vegetable wool from the 
 in^ovince of Alagoas, or felt taken from the interior 
 of a small fruit {Malvacca f ), of weak consistency, 
 but of a quite original apx)earance, from one to two 
 centimetres in length. (*) 
 
 In the Main Building visitors will observe the long 
 spatlias of the palm Manicaria sacoifera^ transformed 
 into beautiful hats, and the filaments of the Mosnor- 
 dica operculataj into baskets, hats, and other articles 
 of delicate handiwork. 
 
 Philadelphia, May ISth, 1876. 
 
 Dk. JOSfi DE SALDANHA DA GAMA. 
 
 * (*) My investigations of the beautifnl fibres of Mr. Severino da Costa 
 Leite are mentioned in the report published by my fellow-member, Dr. 
 NicoUo Moreira. 
 
LIBRPRY OF CONGRESS 
 
 000 931 497 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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