166 



genus. The bark of nearly all of them is used for tioti should soon be paid for by the establishment of 

 fibre or cloth, and of some the finest aerial roots are a commerce in the better ones. 



enlleoted for armlet weaving. 



Brousonettia yields a 

 good strong cloth from its beaten bast — better, I think, 



than any of the figs; though the mountain folk make 



very jolly boudoir caps from a fig bark, and the Kuku- 



kukus, at the head of the Purari, affect opera cloaks 



of a similar material. I have seen the bark of the 



bush bread-fruit — A Hacarpus sp. — used for a similar 



purpose, but it is generally too loved for its nuts to 



be sacrificed for mere clothing. One of the farm wood 



trees — a Trema — yields a bast that is prized for tying 



bundles, but that of the common Hibiscus tiliaceus is 



generally preferred. A number of the mallow family 



are as good, if not better, than this pretty flowering 



Iree, but it is so common, and yields such nice wade 



strips, that it is most frequently used for odd jobs. 



Practically all light vines are used for tying pur- 

 poses, and the methods the native uses is one of trial 

 and error when he picks his vine. The mountain fern 



— Gleiehenia sp. — which springs up like brakes on 



burnt country, and clambers over everything, like a 

 briar, yields a strong fibre, also. I pass over grasses, 

 of which a number seem really good flax fibres, for 

 I have collected no botanical material from them. 

 Job's tears " — Ooix lachryma-joVi — are often strung 

 on threads made from grasses and sedges. 



An 



investigation of the various fibres 



is necessary 



before their value can be proved. Fibres used for 

 ecrdage are not difficult to test; it is merely a matter 

 of making a small rone walk, and trviner out the 



rope 



a- 



strength of ropes made of the different materials. Best 

 manila has a tensile strength of about 15,500 lb. to 

 the square inch, and lower-grade material runs about 

 13,000 lb. Any fibre that will make a rope of a ten- 

 sile strength of over 10,000 lb. to the square inch is 

 worth very careful attention. It is necessary to test 

 the, ropes after they have been soaked in water. Some 



fibres become 



j 



st ronevr 



after wetting; others weaken. 



The latter are obviously not so valuable. Fibres used 

 for spinning into thread and weaving into material 

 are more difficult to test, and these should be submitted 

 for investigation to competent authorities. 



Australia imports the whole of her fibre 

 ments. As is to be expected, tl 



flax, hem]) and jute. Sere an 



kindly 



Trade :- 



recpnre- 



le heaviest items are 



the figures for 1922-3, 



furnished by the Commonwealth Board of 



Imports kw Cokdauk and Twixks. 



I 922-23. 



Quantity. 



Value 



• • 



• • 



Cot tun Twines 

 Twines, other than Cotton . . 



Other Cotton Cordage and Rope 



Other Cordage and Rope . . 

 Reaper and Kinder Twines and Yarns 



Silver, Cordage with Metal Core, Halters, 



and Articles, n.e.i., manufactured 



from Cord and Twine 

 Fibres 



Bass 



Coir 

 Cotton, Raw 



Cotton, Waste (Engine -cleaning) 



Cotton Waste (Axle) 



Flock 



Hemp (including Phormium tetuix) 



. 1 1 1 1 e 



• • 



* • 



• » 



• • 



• * 



• • 



L>< Mi,<) 14 lb. 



483,019 lb. 

 655 owl 



• ■ 



4,895 cwt 



Kapok 



( fcakum and Tow 



Other Fibres 



Total . 



• * 



■ - 



t * 



* * 



6 



« « 



• • 



2,02 ti cut. 



5,866 



• • 



12,604 



<>S!>,023 lb. 



31,139 



• • 



55,826 



• • 



3,015 



1,563 cut. 



2,273 



1 7b cwt. 



21 >8 



141,760 cwt. 



258,788 



S,iK*n cwt. 



20,268 



735,884 cwt. 



301,471 



IUjWT cwt. 



38,72b 



15,427 cwt. 



35, 1 87 



£ 



18,91 8 

 47,349 



10,357 

 70,442 



26,441 



4,761 





Australia offers a goad market for some of the New 



Rattans, 



From fibres, such as I have described, one passes 

 naturally to rattans. These are the stems of long. 



climbing palms 



of the 



Ccdann us, commonly 

 vine. The leaflets 



genii s 

 known as lawyer cane or lawyei 

 and young stems are armed with recurved spines which 

 catch on anything and enable the palm to climb to 



The number of species 

 records 22 species and 



the tops of the highest trees. 



— Beccari 1 



is exceedingly large 



varieties in the Philippines, and there 



New Guinea. I 



species 



are probably 



have made no attempt 



The great value of 



as many in 



to collect and classify them. ^ 



rattans lies in the fact that long lengths can be ob- 

 tained of the same, or practically the same, diameter 

 from end to end. The natives use it for every con- 

 ceivable purpose, both in the round and split. In 

 the round it is preferred for suspension bridges and 

 rope generally. Split, it is used for tying up all the 

 component parts of houses, and all purposes for which 

 a strong, fairly durable, pliable tying material is re- 

 quired. At times the native's confidence in lawyer 

 cane as a universal mender is misplaced, as in the case 

 of the native linesman who inserted a length of it in 

 a broken telephone line. The supply is large, and 

 the quality of many of the species seems to be as 

 good as the material imported into Australia. While 

 no figures are available in Papua as to the yield of 

 rattan from an acre of rain forest, according to 

 Brown f 6.700 feet per acre of rattan of commercial 

 grade is obtained in the Philippines. How well the 

 Papuan yield compares remains to be 



from the lowlands 



A 



seen. As one 



rises from the lowlands, through the foothills, the 

 lawyer canes decrease in number, until, in the end, 

 at about 5,500 feet, on the edge of the coniferous belt, 

 they are reduced to one species — a mountain variety, 

 No. 395, of which I collected botanical material for 



Whit 



It is the thinnest of all 



of 



and 



the rattans, only attaining a diameter oi § m., 

 long lengths of very much thinner material are obtain- 

 able 



in quantities. I found that it made 



_ a lighter 



and more serviceable 5-cham surveyor's tape than the 



lawyer cane I had been usirur at lower 



larger 



elevations, and which had to be split for the purpose. 



The Australian imports are of interest; they include 

 other material than rattan, but this must be the main 

 eane export of the countries, except those that I have 

 marked wih an asterisk: — - 



Bamboo, clouded; Canes and Rattans 



unmanufactured, 

 [m ported from— 



*United Kingdom 

 Borneo (British) 

 Ceylon 



Hong Kong 



• • • 



and Bamboo, Value. 



£ 



378 



• * • 



• • • 



• ■ • 



• • 



t ■ • 



• • • 



• ■ ♦ 



India 



Malaya (British) 

 •New Zealand ..; 



China 

 Japan 



* France 



• • * . - . 



•Netherlands 



• • • ... 



Netherlands East Indies 

 Philippine Islands 



Sweden 



• • * • • ■ 



•United States of America 



- • • 



• • • 



« • 



» ■ 



• . . 



' • • 



- - - 



■ » 



■ • • 



■ » 



- - ■ 



■ • • 



* * * 



• . • 



• • « 



85 

 244 

 187 



753 

 13,177 



364 



7,360 

 826 

 151 



299 



26,960 

 21 



385 

 118 



Total 



£51,308 



Unfortunately the Commonwealth Board of Trad.-, 



which kindly furnished this data, has no information 

 as to quantities. Rattan, in Australia, is the basis of 

 a very large wicker work industry, it being preferred 

 77^, Zi !° ° Sier ' ° Win £ to ,he a1tacks of' borers to which the 



£1,036,689 latter material is subject. From these with whom T 



Guinea fibres, and the cost of 



a thorough 



o 



,,,,' .^'{'"ij,;)' '° ''"I""""- m*r»tt<> <Mh, iHiblicagione. V. Jfortelll, HVWw, 



investlga- ForJ^Marila.^ """""' I ' roi '" r ' s °f the PM'PPtoe Fores/,. Iiur.au of 



