THE CAROLINE ISLANDS. 185 



vated, some of'whicli attain to an extraordinary size. 

 The pandanus grows on all the Carolinas, where, 

 however, the frnit is neither eaten, nor even used 

 for an ornament. None of the improved kinds are 

 found there. The agriculture of Eap must be ad- 

 mirable. Swimming plantations of arum are there 

 ingeniously constructed on rails of bamboo and 

 wood on the water. 



The Plantain is not cultivated so much for its 

 fruit as for its fibres, of which the women weave 

 or braid a pretty stuff, resembling mats. The 

 pieces of this stuff are in the shape of Turkish 

 shawls, three quarters of a yard broad, and several 

 yards long. Black threads woven between, form 

 an elegant pattern on both ends; and these threads 

 hang down as fringes. This stuff is sometimes 

 dyed with curcuma. It is described, in the Voyage 

 of Captain James Wilson, in the Duff, who, in 1797, 

 liad intercourse with the islanders of the province 

 of Ulea, where the art of making it is ascribed, 

 without any reason, to the instruction of the 

 Spanish missionaries. * According to Kadu, the 

 banana-plants are mostly cut down before they bear 

 fruit, for the sake of the fibres. 



Another plant, a Malvacea, furnishes a bast, 



* We can easily conceive, that the inhabitants ask for iron 

 by the name by which Luito, nine years before, obtained much 

 from file Europeans at Guahon {Lutu, Chamori, for Parang, 

 Ulea). But we do not comprehend how it happens, that the 

 numbers given arc of no dialect of this sea known to us. VVc 

 recognize only the general roots of the language. 



