Brazillito 309 --
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59,051 7,444

Thus we perceive the annual consumption of heavy dyewoods in this
country, in dyeing cotton, linen, woollen and silk goods, &c., exceeds
in weight 51,000 tons.

ARNOTTO.--The plants of this family are chiefly natives of the warmest
parts of South America, the East and West Indies, and Africa. In
America the seeds are called achote or roucou. From the port of
Barcelona, in Venezuela, about 2,000 quintals are annually exported.
The species grown for its dye is the _Bixa orellana_. It is used to
impart a bright orange color to silk goods, and to afford a deeper
shade to simple yellows. The dry hard paste is also found to be the
best of all ingredients for giving a golden tint to cheese or butter.
A convenient liquid preparation is now sold to dairymen. The Spanish
Americans mix it with their chocolate, to which it gives a beautiful
rich hue.

It is of two sorts, viz.:--

1. Flag or cake arnotto, which is by far the most important article in
a commercial point of view, is furnished almost wholly by Cayenne. It
is imported in square cakes, weighing two or three pounds each,
wrapped in banana leaves, packed in casks.

2. Roll arnotto is principally brought from Brazil. The rolls are
small, not exceeding two or three ounces in weight. It is hard, dry,
and compact, brownish on the outside, and of a beautiful red color
within.

The dye is usually prepared by macerating the pods in boiling water
for a week or longer. When they begin to ferment, the seeds ought to
be strongly stirred and bruised with wooden pestles to promote the
separation of the red skins. This process is repeated several times,
till the seeds are left white. The liquor passed through close cane
sieves, pretty thick, of a deep red color, and a very bad smell, is
received into coppers. In boiling, it throws up its coloring matter to
the surface in the form of scum, which is taken off, saved in large
pans, and afterwards boiled down to a due consistence, and then made
up, when soft, into balls or cakes of two or three pounds weight.

The following description of the manufacture is from Dr. Ure:--

"The pods of the tree being gathered, their seeds are taken out and
bruised; they are then transferred to a vat, which is called the
steeper, where they are mixed with as much water as