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National Geographic : 1914 May
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AN AMERICAN GIRL IN MEXICO Photo by Shirley C. Hulse Peggy loved to jump "Rosey" over anything in the way of ditches or arroyos that he could be made to tackle public. The fiber is soft, pliable, and strong and is much used for cordage, matting, bags, etc. Some of the fiber is manufactured locally, but the most of it finds a market in New York and other foreign ports. The fiber is stripped from the leaves of the plants by hand. The leaves are long and narrow and the fibers extend from end to end. A workman seizes a leaf, lays it across a block of wood under a heavy dull knife, which is pressed upon the leaf as it is drawn through, and thus parts the fiber from the pulpy tissue. The. leaves of the palma must be softened by steaming before they are stripped, but those of the lechuguilla may be cleaned at once. It is a common sight to see great cartloads of this pale yellow fiber drawn into Cedros, where it is weighed out and the men paid according to the amount produced. The articles made from these fibers are strong, firm, and compact, though somewhat coarse and rough. They are such articles as one sees everywhere in Mexico-articles very well adapted to the purpose for which they are intended. A kind of heavy matting, much used for floor covering in offices and similar places, serves its purpose well. Besides these articles, the fiber is used in the manufacture of various kinds of cord age, and much of it finds its way into brushes, of which a great variety may be found, both of home and of foreign manufacture. THE ROPE-WALK In one of the long buildings at Cedros is an old rope-walk. Here a part of the fiber of local extraction is manufactured. The machinery consists of three wooden posts, in which are set small wooden
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