396 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXV, 



India for bridges. Hooker gives a description of" such a cane- 

 bridge in his " Himalayan -Tournals " where he says : " Soon after- 

 wards (after crossing the Rungmo), at a most wild and beautiful 

 spot, I saw, for the first time, one of the most characteristic of 

 Himalayan objects of art, a cane-bridge. All the spurs, round the 

 bases of which the river flowed, were steep and rocky, their flanks 

 clothed with the richest tropical forest, their crests tipped with 

 pines. On the river's edge, the Banana, Pandanus and Bauhinia, 

 were frequent, and Figs prevailed. One of the latter projected over 

 the stream, growing out of a mass of rock, its roots interlaced and 

 grasping at QYery available support, while its branches, loaded 

 with deep glossy foliage, hung over the water. This tree formed 

 one pier for the canes ; that on the opposite bank was constructed 

 of strong piles, propped with large stones, and between them 

 swung the bridge, about eighty yards long, ever rocking over the 

 torrent. The lightness and extreme simplicity of its structure 

 were very remarkable. Two parallel canes, on the same horizontal 

 plane, were stretched across the stream ; from them others hung 

 in loops, and along the loops were laid one or two bamboo stems 

 for flooring ; cross pieces below this flooring, hung from the two 

 upper canes, which they thus served to keep apart. The traveller 

 grasps one of the canes in either hand, and walks along the loose 

 bamboos laid on the swinging loops; the motion is great, and the 

 rattling of the loose dry bamboos is neither a musical sound nor 

 one calculated to inspire confidence." — In Europe rattans are 

 extensively used for caning chairs, for making brooms, and, when 

 dyed black, as a substitute for whalebone, for umbrella-ribs, and 

 for stiffening bonnets. In Japan all sorts of basket-work are 

 made of split cane, and even cabinets with drawers. Cane is also 

 plaited and twisted into cordage, and slender fibres are made to 

 answer the purpose of twine. In Java the cane is cut into fine 

 slips, which are plaited into excellent mats or made into strong, 

 and at the same time neat, baskets. Bennet says in his " Wan- 

 derings " that near Macao the rattans are split longitudinally, 

 soaked, and attached to a wheel, which one person keeps in motion, 

 whilst another binds the split rattans together, adding others to 

 the length from a quantit}^ carried around his waist, until the 

 required length of the rope is completed. 



Cultivation. — When young Calamus rotang is a very graceful 

 plant, but when it attains a height of 5-6 feet and develops its 

 whip-like flagella armed with numerous sharp recurved thorns it is 

 generally considered time to cut it down. (Woodrow.) 



Illustration. — Plate CV, 



25. CALAMUS DELESSERTIANUS, Becc. iu Anu. itoy. Hot. vJard. 

 Calc. XI, 91, 276. 



