The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-30
MEDICINAL Pl ANTS.
They Grow in Great ProfusiOn Near the
City of TrujilIo, Central America.


They Grow in Great Profusion Near the
City of Trujilio, Central America.
A considerable portion of the trade
OF Trujillo is in medicinal plants. more
OF which grow in the department OF
OlanchO than in any other portion OF
Central America. The sarsaparilla
vine grows wild. and one has only to
walk few steps beyond the town
limits to run against its thorns. 1t is a
climbing vine, and clings as close to
bushes. trees. and rocks as the COM
mon ivy. Natives make trips into the
woods at regular intervals, gathering
its reddish brown roots in small guam
titles, which always command ready
sale to the seaport merchants, who
separate it into two qualities, governed
by the diameter of the root and its
color and richness of juice. The pieces
are cut in one foot lengths and shipped
to foreign countries in twenty-five
pound bales. The medicinal properties
OF the vine are not recognized in Hon
duras, and when the native thinks his
blood needs purifying he physics him.
self with blue-mass pills until he salt
Yates himself.
There is a plant called the cayamuela,
which has the peculiar property of
salvation. 1t is about four feet high,
with flexible stalk like our milk
weed. having at it's top a yellow lily.
cd If he oko1
hailed swells the face like poison ivy,
and the leaves, if eaten, loosen the
teeth. Cattle instinctively avoid it as
the southwest of our country avoid
needle grass" which pierces and cuts
their entrails
The thick forests Immediately back
OF the town are inhabited by hundreds
of families of monkeys, and one fire.
quently has sense of fellOw-feeling
when in some solitary and secluded
spot he sees an old and wrinkled
patriarch perched high up in some
tree, scrutinizing ones appearance
with that ridiculous solemnity which
only a monkey can affect. Ihave heard
tales of travellers and surveyors in
which monkeys in cocoa palms make
themselves disagreeable by throwing
cocoanuts at ones head with malicious
intention, but it never has been my ex-
perieuce to find the monkey any more
dangerous than the prairie dog of our
western plains. / secured some very
fine black, long-haired monkey skins.
such as are made into $40 muffs and
ladies' capes, for fifty cents apiece in
silver.
In the many small Indian villages
through which the mahogany roads
passed l experienced nothing but kind
ness and hospitality for very small
price, twenty-five cents being one
nights bill for the outfit, including
four animals, two Indian servants and
myself. Many of the men were away
from home, in the mahogany cuttings,
and most of the women, while keeping
their vegetable gardens and corn fields
in good condition, found time to manu-
facture ropes, hammocks, saddlebags,
morse gear, and hats from the ''pita,
or fiber of variety of cactus which
covers the low lands in the greatest
prOfusiOn.
The cactus leaf is cut and rolled and
pressed between flat stones, to squeeze
out all pulpy matter. The mass of
fiber is then dried in the sun and sepa-
rated into threads. to be twisted and
fashioned as desired. / saw some very
fine hammOcks of f1exibility never
seen among those sent to foreign coun-
tries, which sell on the spot for $25.
They are nearly as fine as lace work,
and SO skillfully are the different col
ors braided in that they look like en-
broidery a few feet distant. Chi
cago News.