DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES LVL 
is impractical. Native collectors and dealers recognize certain 
grades of rattan in any given locality and are familiar with 
something of their abundance, size, and tensile strength. For 
different operations of tying and fastening, different sizes are 
obviously needed. Some kinds become brittle when dried and 
are therefore useless for tying purposes in constructing houses 
and for baling hemp, but may serve perfectly well for binding 
fish traps and rafts. On the basis of such points of difference 
the people of any given locality distinguish a number of dif- 
ferent varieties, usually half a dozen to a dozen, to which they 
give distinct names. Just how far these distinctions coincide 
with botanical ones is uncertain, but these names vary too 
greatly in different localities for them to serve a useful purpose 
except very locally. 
The situation above described raises the question as to what 
practical method of classification recourse may be had. Broadly 
speaking, it cannot be said that there is any which could be put 
into immediate operation in a way that would be of special 
assistance either to an exporter or a purchaser. Until a classi- 
fication based on a thorough investigation has been devised, the 
only safe plan is to purchase by samples from each important 
region. 
Apparently the only variety of Philippine rattan distinguished 
with any degree of definiteness is that which forms the bulk 
of the exports from Palawan and which goes under the name 
of sika or sicca. It is perhaps the same or nearly the same as 
the high-grade Borneo rattan exported as segah and with which 
the Philippine product is probably mixed. Sika is generally 
agreed to be the best of the Philippine rattans. It is smooth 
and very tough, with a fairly light-yellow color, has small nodes, 
and a very uniform diameter averaging about a centimeter. 
The authorities of Bilibid Prison have stated that if a steady 
supply of this rattan could be secured at reasonable prices they 
would use it regularly as fully equal to the cane imported from 
Hongkong. Very little is known of the available supply or the 
extent of territory from which sika can be secured. Palawan 
is one of the most sparsely inhabited and least systematically 
exploited islands in the Archipelago. The present supply of 
sika is collected almost entirely by the unsupervised labor of 
the Tagbanuas and other pagan tribes. It is generally believed 
among those who handle the product in Manila that rattan of 
approximately this quality, whether under the same or other 
names, is only to be had from Palawan. There is, however, no 
