324 . INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 
C. palustris, C. albus, etc., nre made use of entire as cables by the natives of íhe 
Malay Archipelago, Cochin China and neighbouring countries; large cables are also 
often made of many small canes twisted together; these, which are often ot 
extraordinary strength and durability, are much employed for native craft such as Prahus 
and Junks. C. palustris is much used entire, in Burma, for tying timber in rafts and 
making the cables which stretch across the river at the Salween rope station 
(Gamble). To the same use are put the entire canes of C. ornatus, which are 
employed in Java for moving ferry boats. Usually, however, for many purposes 
the rattan canes are split throughout their length into 2-4 or more strips from 
which the inner soft brittle and spongy portion is removed by means of a knife or 
same other instrument, so as to leave the ‘external portion, which is hard, tough, 
flexible, elastic and has its outer surface very clean and smooth as if it had been 
varnished, 
The process of cleaning and redncing the canes of Calami into fine strips is 
termed by the Malays * raut” and from this word is derived “ rautang,” whence 
* Rotang," that is to say the object which it is possible to reduce to strips by the 
* raut.” 
The strips vary in width according to the use to which they are to be put; 
those for delicate work, as for the network of furniture, for small bags, hats, 
eto, are from 1-3 mm, in breadth; those employed as lashings in natiye house- 
building or in fastening the removable head of the Malay axe to its handle are 
from 5-6 mm, wide, 
The natives often dye these strips of Rotang red when they desire to give a 
‘more elegant finish, by means of variegated patterns, to their work,* 
The canes of some Rotangs are used entire and cut into pieces of appropriate 
length to make handles, rods, walking canes and the like. For this purpose the 
erect and slender stems of the non-scandent species, such as C. bacularis, are best 
suited; but the basal portion of certain of the scandeut ones is sometimes employed, 
According to Gamble, C. inermis furnishes in the Sikkim Himalaya the best alpen- 
stocks. The well-known “ Malacca canes” or “ Pinang Lawyers” which are largely 
exported to Europe are cut from the stems of €. Scipionum. Their chief merit, 
apart from their toughness, their elasticity, and the beauty of their surface, lies in 
the extraordinary length of their internodes, a single one of these being sufficient 
to make a very elegant walking cane, : : 
Rattans are a natural product of the primeval forest, Those that reach Europe 
are largely exported from Singapore, whence come all those that have been 
-gathered in the forests of Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, the Malay Peninsula, ete. 
. . The process of collecting and preparing Rattans is very simple. When a Rotang 
plant has been found in the forest, the stem is cut near the ground and is detached 
from the trees, from which it is suspended by its hooked thongs, by taking a strong 
hold of its base and thus pulling down the entire plant with its leaves, In order 
to clean the plant of its leaves and especially of the spinous sheaths that clothe 
*The process of dyeing rattan’ canes red in the Philippines has been described by Father Llanos in the “Flora de 
Filipinas," Gran Edicion, vol, iv, p. 49. 
