An Account of the Abipones, an Equestrian People of Paraguay, (1 of 3)Dobrizhoffer, Martin
History
An Account of the Abipones, an Equestrian People of Paraguay, (1 of 3)
Dobrizhoffer, Martin
Abipon Indians; Jesuits -- Missions; Paraguay -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
The pindò is a very lofty and common palm, with a rough, white bark. By
way of wood it has a pulp as porous as a fungus, very light, and
composed of threads extremely liable to catch fire. It produces dates
which, after being pounded in a mortar, are either drunk with water, or
eaten. The dates, falling from the trees, fill the woods, and, by their
hardness, severely hurt the naked feet of the Indians. But though these
palms are, in some respects, very annoying to travellers, yet in others
they are equally convenient to them: for the Guaranies, when they pass
the nights in the woods, are furnished by them, on an impending storm,
with a protection against the rain. Some hew down any palms of this sort
that they can find, and with the soft spungy materials afforded by their
trunks, quickly build a little hut, and cover it well with boughs and
leaves of palms, bent partly one way, partly another: should the rain
fall with the utmost violence, not a drop will penetrate this hasty
fabric. Of the leaves of the pindò palms, cords, panniers, and baskets
are sometimes woven, as of osiers in other places. These palms, not only
by their great height, but also by the length of their boughs, which
they gracefully extend, afford a pleasing spectacle to the eye, and a
great ornament to gardens.
THE YATAỸ.
The yataỹ, a smaller palm, besides dates, yields a very tender germ,
leafy at the top, as soft as butter, and of a yellowish white, which is
eaten raw, as it is plucked from the tree, and is very pleasant to the
taste. Crowds of parrots daily fly to feed upon the nuts of this palm.
THE YATAỸ GUAZÙ.
The yataỹ guazù, which has very large bright green leaves, and a rugged
trunk, and is at least five ells high, produces oval shaped nuts, which
the Spaniards call _coccos_. The pulp is very small in quantity, but, if
boiled, eatable. In each nut there are three large kernels, as agreeable
to the taste as almonds, but more oily.
THE MBOCAYAỸ.
The mbocayaỹ, a tree very abundant on hills, has its trunk and leaves
armed with long and strong thorns. It bears bunches of smooth dates, as
sweet as almonds, which are eaten either raw or roasted. Oil, almost
like that of olives, may be expressed from these nuts. This palm puts
out threads stronger than hemp, of which the savage nations make cords
for bows, and lines for fishing with. In the territory of Cordoba you
see palms, the leaves of which make such strong and commodious besoms,
that they are brought to the more distant cities. The Spaniards of St.
Iago, who go to the woods to seek wax and honey, cut certain palms to
the pith. At the end of some weeks they return to the place, and in
those palms they had wounded find very large fat worms, which they fry,
and eat with much satisfaction.
FRUIT-BEARING TREES.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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