112 MOZAMBIQUE 



believe, and are in consequence rather expensive, 

 but the economy in labour and the saving in 

 fibre are important arguments in favour of 

 adopting them. 



Eamie or rhea fibre has, in my belief, no 

 future in the Province. It has been the subject 

 of trial in various parts of the East Coast of 

 Africa, but has never yet been made to pay. In 

 order to make it ratoon well it requires irriga- 

 tion and a forcing cultivation more adapted for 

 small peasant industry than for the employer of 

 labour. A check in the growth of the stems 

 injures the quality of the fibre. Moreover, 

 rapid growth is considered important, the fibre 

 from young stems being finer and more valuable 

 than that from old. I think I am right in say- 

 ing that no plantation of ramie or rhea fibre 

 has ever yet been profitably cultivated in India, 

 though many experiments have been made. No 

 machine has yet been invented that the planter 

 can use for degumming the ribbons, the ramie 

 of commerce being all produced by Chinese and 

 Indian peasants, who prepare the fibre by hand. 





