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Brought to you from the forthcoming book by renowned historian
Dr. Lennox Honychurch.
Mahaut (C)
A place name associated with types of trees, the bark of which was used for making rope. The best known is the west coast village of Mahaut in the parish of St. Paul, but there is also Savanne Mahaut near Delices, Ravine Mahaut at Petite Soufrière and Mahaut River in the Carib Territory. The Caribs grouped plants according to their uses and any plant with a bark capable of making rope was described as "maho". The French took the word and wrote it in their own way: "mahaut". Since there were no nails or wire or bolts, everything was tied together with maho. House posts, roofing thatch, hammocks, head straps for carrying load, for attaching things to canoes, anchor ropes, net ropes and for hauling, all depended on maho. As father Breton writes in his Carib Dictionary, "In short, I do not think they could exist without maho". In western scientific botany the Mahaut is found in divers plant families: Cordia (Boraginaceae), Pavonia and Hibiscus (Malvaceae), Triumfetat (Tiliceae) and Sterculia (Sterculiaceae).
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