BASKET- AND WICKER-WORK 



CALAMUS 



Trade in Canes 



to the great strength more particularly of the outer woody layer of 

 t heir long flexible steins. As substitutes for ropes these are invaluable, and 

 in the countries where they abound, canes 300 to 400 feet in length are fre- 

 quently employed as the bearing-ropes of suspension-bridges. They are 

 also used in towing heavy objects, stones, logs of timber, etc., and formerly 

 much valued in the East as cables for ships. The smaller canes are 

 extensively employed throughout the world in basket-work both entire 

 and stripped. Chairs, sofas, couches, baskets, etc., are constructed of 

 entire canes wound round and round and fastened to each other by thin 

 strips of the cane-bark. When the interstices are filled up, they become 

 water-tight baskets and granaries. A strong and durable floor-mat is 

 similarly made of these canes placed close together and held in position by 

 liiiulers of cane-bark. Canes are also very largely used as walking-sticks, 

 umbrella-handles, and to give strength in saddlery and harness. Loureiro 

 Cochinchin., 1790, 210) under C. Scipionum says, " Pro baculis ex 

 lignitate, vel elegantia manu gestandis " a description fully applicable 

 the Malacca and Whangee canes of to-day. But of course the chief 

 European use for canes is in furniture and basket- making. Machinery 

 now utilised in stripping the barks into cane-ribbons, thus leaving 

 le core in the form of a perfectly round and even rod. These rods 

 employed in the construction of fancy baskets, chairs, window-blinds, 

 rhere great strength is not essential, and they have the advantage over 

 le silicious stronger bark-iibbons in that they take colour readily. The 

 raste fibre obtained during stripping and trimming the ribbons and cane- 

 Is is used in upholstery along with, or as a substitute for coir. Wiesner 

 (Denkschr. Akad. Wiss. Wien. Math.-Nat., 1902, Ixxii., 15-6) refers 

 speatedly to the Chinese employment of rattans in the manufacture of 

 iper. Tschirch (Indische Heil-und Nutzpflanzen, 1892, 169) very pictur- 

 jquely describes the varied uses of the cane from caned boyhood to cane- 

 ited dotage. His illustrations are forcible, but add little or nothing new. 

 mausek, Micro. Tech. Prod. (Winton and Barber, transl.), 1907, 255-61.] 

 Trade in Canes. The Forest Departments of the various provinces 

 jf India, including Burma, publish annual reports from which it might 

 gathered that the yearly crop of canes amounts to about 10,000,000 

 launds and the annual revenue therefrom from Rs. 50,000 to 60,000. The 

 jports of the Conservators of Forests in Burma for the year 1904-5, 

 jr example, show a total revenue from canes amounting to Rs. 37,775. 

 The imports of canes and rattans into India from foreign countries 

 lay be said to average from 30,000 to 40,000 cwt., valued at from 2 to 3 

 ikhs of rupees (38,436 cwt., valued at Rs. 3,85,674 in 1906-7). These come 

 linly from the Straits Settlements and Siam. The exports to foreign 

 >untries of Indian canes come to from 1,000 to 3,000 cwt., valued at from 

 3. 20,000 to Rs. 50,000 (2,427 cwt., valued at Rs. 38,100, in 1906-7), but 

 addition there is also a re-export trade (foreign canes exported) formerly 

 jf about the same quantity and value as that just mentioned, but showing 

 considerable diminution in recent years (673 cwt., Rs. 11,291, in 1906-7). 

 It is thus significant that India, with its vast supplies of canes and rattans, 

 "lould not be independent of foreign tropical countries, and the explanation 

 lay possibly lie in the cheaper sea as compared with land transit. Large 

 towns like Bombay, Calcutta and Madras find it more economical to 

 obtain their supplies from the Straits than from the inland forests of 

 India. (See Baskets, p. 115 ; also Mats and Matting, p. 775). 



203 



Rop 

 Substitute*. 



Buket-work. 



Ifcte. 



Walking-sticks. 

 Whangee Canes. 



Paper Material. 



Trade. 



Production. 



Imports. 



Exports. 



