Word: lichen
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Dates: during 1920-1929
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...goats were remarkably agile in moving about in the rocks but they did not far surpass in this art, the natives of the Madeiran village of Canico. These, accustomed to hunting the shearwater gulls among the rocks for the purpose of their feathers and wax, and the orchilla lichen for its dye mounted or descended the steep sides of rocky cliffs by means of long spiked poles, which they place in the niches of the rocks...
...orchilla, a species of lichen is very valuable and from it the natives produce a rich purple dye. This plant may have been one of the sources of supply of purple dye obtained by the Greeks. A second uncommon plant which we came across was the barilla, the leaves of which glisten as though make of ice. From it the gatherers obtain soda. Specimens of a large, black, spider, is lycosa ingens were found. This spider is smaller than the Cuban tarantula and notable for its coal blackness...