THE PINDÒ.
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.