154 PHILIPPINE PALMS 
for rough brooms, and are sometimes woven into coarse baskets. 
Splints prepared from the petioles vary in color from greenish- 
white through various shades of brown to nearly black, depend- 
ing on the age of the leaf. They are used in making baskets 
and for a sort of marquetry work on tables, stands, screens, boxes 
and other light pieces of furniture. The bud (ubud), either raw 
cr cooked, makes a fine salad. 
The most important industrial yield of this palm is, however, 
the black tough fiber locally known as yunot or cabo negro 
(eju or gomuto fiber). This stiff, black, tough, horsehair-like 
fiber is produced at the base of the petioles in considerable 
quantities, and is employed in the Philippines chiefly for manu- 
facturing rope for use in salt water, and for thatching houses. 
For the latter purpose, it is prized not only for its remarkable 
durability against exposure to either fresh or salt water, but 
also because it does not readily burn. Well-informed Filipinos 
claim that as thatch it will last for 100 years; Blanco states that 
when so used it will last 30 years or more. Its cost is com- 
paratively high. This fiber is in demand in Europe for certain 
industrial purposes, but there is no record that it ranks among 
the exports of the Philippines. Heyne* quotes its price at 
from 12 to 35 pounds per ton, according to grade, length of 
fiber, etc., and gives the Javan export for the year 1912 as 31 
tons. 
In the Philippines, the stiffer fibers are used for making 
brushes of various types, such as floor and hair brushes, brushes 
for cleaning horses, etc. A minor local use is for the purpose 
of tying epiphytic orchids to pieces of wood in establishing 
these plants under cultivation. Thatch-like raincoats are some- 
times made of it. 
Associated with the black, stiff fibers of the basal parts of 
the petiole is an entirely different substance, soft, light, dry, 
punky, varying in color from nearly white to rather dark shades. 
This material, called barok, is used in caulking boats; formerly, 
and perhaps still to a very limited extent, as tinder. For the 
latter purpose it is first soaked in the juice of the banana plant 
or of talbaék (Kolowratia elegans Presl), or in lye made from 
the ashes of the lagtindi (Vitex negundo L.), and then dried.+ 
According to Heyne, from 60 to 75 tons of this material are 
exported from Cheribon, Java, to Singapore each year under 
the name of zwam (Dutch=sponge or tinder). 

* Heyne, De Nuttige Planten van Nederlandsch-Indié. Volume I (1913), 
page 114, 
+ Blanco, M., Flora de Filipinas. Edicion II (1845), pagina 512 
