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.