Maximiliana Regia

An Amazonian palm called Inaja. The spathes

are so hard that, when filled with water, they will stand the

fire, and are sometimes used by the Indians as cooking utensils.

The Indians who prepare the kind of rubber called bottle rubber,

make use of the hard stones of the fruit as fuel for smoking and

drying the successive layers of milky juice as it is applied to

the mold upon which the bottles are formed. The outer husk, also,

yields a kind of saline flour used for seasoning their food.