are strong and flexible, but harsher to
the feel than those made from flax. This province produces great
abundance of the _opuntia_, a species of the _cactus_, which nourishes
the cochineal insect; but the natives are in use to string these insects
on a thread by means of a needle, by which they acquire a blackish tint.
The fruit of this plant is woolly, about the size of a peach, its
internal substance being glutinous and full of small seeds. It is sweet
and well-flavoured, and is easily preserved by cutting into slices which
are dried in the sun. There are four different trees producing a species
of beans; two of which are good eating, the third is employed as
provender for horses, and ink is made from the fourth. The most singular
vegetable production in this country is called _the flower of the air_,
from having no root, and never growing on the ground. Its native
situation is on the surface of an arid rock, or twining round the dry
stem of a tree. This plant consists of a single shoot, like the stem of
a gilly-flower, but its leaves are larger and thicker, and are as hard
as wood. Each stalk produces two or three white transparent flowers, in
size and shape resembling a lily, and equally odoriferous with that
flower. They may be preserved fresh on their stalks for more than two
months, and for several days when plucked off. This plant may be
transported to almost any distance; and will produce flowers annually,
if merely hung up on a nail.

In the northern parts of Cujo there are mines of gold and copper, but
they are not worked owing to the indolence of the inhabitants. It has
also rich mines of lead, sulphur, vitriol, salt, gypsum, and talc or
asbestos. The mountains near the city of Juan are entirely composed of
white marble, in stratified slabs of five or six feet long by six or
seven inches thick, all regularly cut and polished by nature. From this
the inhabitants prepare an excellent lime, which they use in building
bridges over the streams and canals of irrigation. Between the city of
Mendoza and La Punta, on a low range of hills, there is a large stone
pillar, 150 feet high and 12 feet diameter, called the giant, on which
there are certain marks or inscriptions resembling Chinese characters.
Near the Diamond river there is another stone, having marks which appear
to be characters, and the impression of human feet, with the figures of
several animals. The Spaniards call it the stone of St Thomas; from a
trad