ON THE SOURCES OF THE "CHINA MATTING." 101 



culmi apice distante multiflora, floribus inferioribus et superioribus 

 deminuto squamularum staminumque numero s^pius plus minus 

 imperfectis intermediis perfectis, squamis obtusissimis inferne 

 albidis apice badiis margine sublaceris infimis vacuis,bracteolis binis 

 intra squamam lateraliter dispositis navicularibus carinatis secus 

 carinam subtiliter spinuloso-ciliatis utraque stamen stipante, 

 squamulis hypogynis in mediis floribus 24-26 in reliquis 12-20 

 ligulatis tenuiter membranaceis by alino -badiis ach^enium subdimi- 

 dio superantibus ciliatis v. glaberrimis, staminibus in normalibus 

 floribus 6-8 prater duo bracteolis stipata cum squamulis inordi- 

 natim vel si certo quidem saltem baud facile recognescendo ordine 

 dispositis antberis breviter rubenti-mucronatis, stylo superne bifido 

 inferne cum acb^nii juvenilis vertice glanduloso-puberulo longi- 

 tudinaliter striato-nervoso anguste alato-marginato pallide brun- 

 nescente styli basi persistente apiculato. 



Tbe natural coloiu' of the matting made from this plant is a 

 pale brown, and I am not aware that it is ever dyed ; nor is it, I 

 believe, exported to foreign countries, except, doubtless, in tbe form 

 of bed-mats for Chinese residing in Australia and California. It is 

 certainly remarkable that a plant of comparatively limited 

 geographical distribution, and in none other apparently of its native 

 localities turned to any account, should furnish the raw material 

 for a vast manufacturing in'dustry, and perhaps still more strange 

 that the source of this should not before have been discovered. As 

 in the case of Hydrojyyrum. latifolium, Griseb., which supplies 

 thousands of tons of a favourite vegetable, it shows how much we 

 may have still to learn, even at the oldest and most frequented 

 marts of trade, concerning the uses to which many apparently 

 insignificant plants are put. The attention of the authorities in 

 our possessions in the Straits of Malacca and of those of Netherlands 

 India might be advantageously directed to encouraging the 

 cultivation of this plant, and so developing a large and profitable 

 manufacture. 



But, in addition to the matting used for sails. Canton and the large 

 district city of Tung-kun, on the south branch of the East Eiver, 

 are the seats of an extensive manufacture of floor-matting, almost 

 all of which is exported, and mainly to the United States of 

 America, where it is universally used in summer, carpets being 

 found too hot. So large indeed is the export that it ranks in point 

 of value about sixth or seventh of aU articles shipped to foreign 

 countries from Canton. The Rev. W. Dilthey, of the Rhenish 

 Missionary Society, then stationed atFu-mun (in the Court dialect 

 'Hu-men'), a town situated on the left bank of the Canton River, 

 just at its mouth, a little way inland, and about twelve miles from 

 Tung-kun, in which neighbourhood a large quantity of the plant 

 from which this matting is woven is grown, was so obliging as to 

 send me copious specimens of it, in the early part of 1875. It is 

 called Lii-ts'ao, and Mr. Dilthey informs me that it is grown in 

 fields provided with narrow channels, which allow the water to flow 

 in and out with the rising and receding tides. This water must be 

 brackish, but not too salt, or the plant will be killed, so that it can 



