Sentence:  In Santa Cruz, for instance, where laborers are scarce and the means of communication bad, the gatherers of <WSD>piassava</WSD> are paid at the rate of from 2 to 3 "milreis" (the "milreis" is equivalent to about 30 cents) per arroba; [...]. The British syndicate above referred to uses [...] steel cleaves for cutting the <WSD>piassava</WSD> into uniform strips; 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A fibrous product of two Brazilian palm trees ((noshow=1) and (noshow=1)), formerly used in making brooms and for other purposes.