56 Fibres of the Haivaiian Islands. 



PUI,U. 



Surfacp: Fibre. Cibotiuni clianiissoi. 



A tree fern afford.s the soft glossy down, or ^-egetable silk, 

 known as Pulu, which appears surrounding the base of the fronds. 

 This fibre has been used extensively in California and Australia by 

 upholsterers instead of feathers for stuffing mattresses and pillows. 

 It has also been used to a limited extent in surgery in staunching 

 bleeding. Pulu is gathered from the growing plant by hand and 

 dried in the sun, a somewhat tedious operation. Twenty-five years 

 ago Honolulu exported nearly a quarter of a million pounds of this 

 fibre annually, but the industry has long since entirely ceased. 



RAMIB. 



ExoGEN. Bast Fibre. Urticacccc. Bochmcria nivca, China- 

 grass, White ramie; B. tcnacissiina, Green ramie, Rhea. 



Boehincria is indigenous to India, and also probably to China. 

 The Bochmerias are allied to the true nettles, from which they differ 

 in possessing no stinging hairs. Urticacccc especially abound in 

 fibrous plants, yielding not only ramie or rhea, but also true 

 hemp and the Hawaiian olona. Certain external affinities, such as 

 the arrangement of their closely serrate and hairy foliage are pos- 

 sessed in common by this order, the Tiliacccc and the Malvacccc, 

 which together yield the majority of bast fibres. Much miscon- 

 ception is prevalent as to the varieties of BocJiDicria yielding the 

 fibre of commerce known as ramie, and there is great conflict of 

 opinion in the literature upon this subject. It is highly desirable 

 that an authoritative work be prepared on the various Boclimcria 

 fibres, as attempts have in some instances been made to produce 

 a fibre to compete with China-grass, from an entirely wrong species, 

 and like mistakes have been made which have greatly retarded the 

 development of the industry. The two chief varieties useful to 

 commerce appear to be Boclivicria utilis or tcnacissiina and Boch- 

 meria nivca. The latter is a temperate plant and has been culti- 

 vated from the earliest times in' China, and is probably the true 

 China-grass plant. The preparation of this fibje is entirely by 

 hand and quite simple, but on account of the extreme tenacity of 

 the filaments and their adherence to one another the process of man- 



