Many species of this plant are commonly to be met with in Paraguay. I
will briefly mention those with which I am best acquainted. The
caraquatà guazù, or the great caraquatà, is supported by a short thick
root. It consists of about twenty very thick leaves, dentated on both
sides, remarkably sharp, and about two feet in length, in the midst of
which rises a stalk, like a trunk, five, and often more feet high. The
top of it is crowned with yellow flowers. The Indian women spin threads
of the fibres of the leaves, as others do of flax, or hemp, and weave
them into cords, cloths, and nets. But no time, or art can make these
threads perfectly white, nor will they hold any colour with which they
may be dyed. Creditable authors write that in the province of Guayana
such beautiful stockings are woven of this same thread, that they are
sometimes preferred to silk ones in France for strength, and softness.
Another kind of caraquatà, very like the former, is seen in the woods,
but it cannot be spun into threads. In the woods of Mbaèverà, the Indian
women who inhabit there make thread, and garments, not of the caraquatà,
but of the bark of the tree pinô, after it has been properly cleaned:
for the webs woven of the thread of this bark, after being exposed for
sometime to the sun, and frequently sprinkled with water, become
beautifully white and will retain any colour with which they are dyed,
extremely well. It is much to be lamented that this tree pinô is found
in the larger woods only, and is not to be seen in many parts of
Paraguay. Another caraquatà of a different shape produces a kind of
artichoke, or anana. It bears fruit of a scarlet colour, and has plenty
of seed contained in a straight slender stalk. It is surrounded with
very large leaves, denticulated like a saw, and pointing towards the
ground, in the centre of which travellers find a tolerable supply of
very clear water, and with it often quench their thirst in dry deserts,
where sometimes not a drop of water is to be found. Another caraquatà
with leaves very like a sword, and armed on both sides with a
threatening row of thorns, bears fruit of a pale yellow within and
without, full of black seeds, and pregnant with an acidulated, and
pleasant juice. But to extricate this fruit from the many thorns, with
which the leaves that guard it are armed, without being wounded, is the
labour and the difficulty. Of this fruit mixed with sugar a very
wholesome drink, and an excellent medicine for various diseases are
made. These, and other kinds of caraquatà are of great use to the
Americans. Planted around gardens, and the buildings of estates, they,
by their thorns, prevent all secret, and improper access, more
effectually than any other kind of hedge, and will survive every
inclemency of the weather. Their leaves supply the place of flax in
making thread, as well as of tiles in covering temporary huts, and their
thorns serve for needles. Their leaves, on being pricked, yield a thick
juice which washerwomen use for soap, and when boiled on the fire are
fit to be eaten. The Indians look upon the various fruits of the
caraquatà as food. From their leaves, when scraped with a knife, flows a
sweet liquor, which is thickened on the fire, and condensed into sugar.
This liquor of the caraquatà, mixed in water with the seeds of oranges,
or lemons, undergoes a vinous fermentation; exposed to the sun it turns
to vinegar. By what method, and in what cases, wounds and disorders are
healed by the juice of the caraquatà, would be long to tell. A
polypodium, preferable in the opinion of physicians to any European one,
grows on the caraquatà.