402 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1957 



bound with iron hoops, when at length these give out the itinerant 

 repairman replaces them with bamboo. 



Bamboo hoops are always made up of a number of slender strips 

 (pi. 5, fig. 2) . These are fabricated into a circular unit of the desired 

 dimensions either by twisting or by plaiting. The plaited form is 

 more durable and probably has a greater tensile strength per strip 

 unit. The twisted form is easier to make and is, therefore, cheaper. 

 An important feature of the technique of making both sorts is keep- 

 ing rind or outer surface of the strips always on the convex side of a 

 bend or curve. 



Bamboo hoops of the plaited type are indispensable in the oil- 

 pressing industry, being employed to form, along with rice straw, 

 the outer shell of the cylinder which confines the oil-bearing meal 

 while it is under pressure. The meal is wrapped in straw in the 

 form of disk-shaped packages, each supported on its periphery by 

 several bamboo hoops. The units are placed side by side in the 

 primitive wooden press which is operated by hand on the percussion 

 principle. 



We do not ordinarily think of bamboo as a wood appropriate to 

 the joiner's art. However, the making of the bamboo buckets and 

 tubs used as containers for cooked rice is a trade in itself. Some 

 30-odd tools, each with a special function, compose the kit of the 

 maker of these bamboo vessels ! 



BAMBOO BRIDGES 



A very ingenious device is often erected for transporting persons, 

 goods, and animals across deep swift streams, particularly in the 

 mountainous borderlands between China and Tibet, where few bridges 

 are available. This device consists of a strong cable fashioned of 

 split bamboo and having a diameter commensurate with its length 

 and the weight of the load it is likely to bear. The following de- 

 scription is taken from E. H. Wilson, "A Naturalist in Western 

 China," vol. 1, p. 164, 1913 : 



These simple but extremely useful structures consist of a bamboo hawser 

 stretched across the stream usually from a higher to a lower point ; if the 

 stream is moderately narrow the question of incline is of less importance. The 

 hawser may be anything from 8 inches to a foot thick, and being heavy sags 

 considerably in the middle. To cross one of these cable bridges a person is 

 supplied with a length of strong hempen rope hanging free from a saddle- 

 shaped runner of oak or some other tough wood. The runner clips the cable, 

 and the hempen rope is fastened under and around the legs and waist to form 

 a cradle. When all is properly secured the person throws one arm over the 

 top of the runner, gives a slight spring, and glides down the inclined cable at 

 an increasing speed. The impetus obtained in the downward rush carries the 

 passenger over the central dip and more or less up the lesser incline on the 

 opposite side. If the momentum is insufficient to land the person, the remain- 



