404 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 195 7 



many of these complex terms (ideographs and pictographs) contain 

 the symbol for bamboo. This fact signifies that even before their 

 names were first reduced to writing, bamboo was employed in the 

 making of the devices themselves. It is perhaps sufficient for our 

 purpose to mention a few of them: Traj>s, weirs, sluices, barriers, 

 poles for hook-and-line fishing, spears, sea anchors, floats, trays and 

 poles for drying fish and baskets for transporting them, netting 

 needles, poles for drying nets, punting poles, and scaff or dip nets, 

 including karojals and salambas. The dredges, punting poles, sieves, 

 and sea anchors of Oriental clam-dredging equipment are all made of 

 bamboo. 



BAMBOO IN THE EXPORT TRADE OF ORIENTAL COUNTRIES 



Bamboos and bamboo products are exported from China, Japan, 

 and Burma in important quantities. Today, much of the bamboo 

 trade of China is carried on with neighboring countries. 



Western countries draw upon the Orient chiefly for ordinary bam- 

 boo poles, Tonkin cane, split bamboo, and bamboo shoots. In the 

 exportation of bamboo poles for use in their natural state as fishing 

 rods, etc., Japan leads by a wide margin. All or nearly all of these 

 poles come from species of Phyllostachys. 



Tsinglee cane, also called Tonkin cane (Arundinaria amabilis), 

 falls in a distinct category. As far as our present knowledge goes, 

 it is produced exclusively in a small area in the hinterland of Can- 

 ton, in southeastern China, and under the earlier regime practically 

 the entire production was shipped abroad, principally to England, 

 Germany, and the United States. Several special processes are in- 

 volved in the preparation of the culms for export. The culms of 

 this bamboo have so many splendid qualities and meet such impor- 

 tant technical specifications that they are greatly in demand. The 

 larger canes are extensively used, particularly in Great Britain and 

 the United States, in the making of various articles for sports, for 

 example, split-bamboo fishing rods, and vaulting poles. Medium- 

 sized canes, under an inch in diameter, are used for making skiing 

 staffs, garden stakes, handles for collecting nets, etc., while the smaller 

 sizes go into flower stakes, pennant sticks, etc. 



India formerly exported, principally to England, considerable 

 quantities of Calcutta cane (IDendrocalamus strictus), from which 

 split-bamboo fishing rods were made originally. Since the discovery 

 of the superiority of Tonkin cane for this purpose, however, the 

 exportation of Calcutta cane has dwindled to almost nothing. Burma 

 exports important quantities of the culms of a bamboo of undeter- 

 mined botanical identity, known in the trade as Burma Cane. They 

 are much used in this country, in the natural state, for surf rods. 



