MATS 



Materials 



Panama Fibre. 



Coir. 



Calcutta 

 Mats. 

 D.E.P., 

 iv., 207-8. 



D.E.P., 

 iv., 552. 



D.E.P., 

 v., 317. 



Waziri 

 Mats. 



D.E.P., 

 v., 430. 

 Golpatta. 



Thatch. 



Rice. 



D.E.P., 



vi., pt. i., 



4-6. 



Screw-pine. 



MATS AND MATTING 



districts are Faridpur, Bakarganj, Tippera and Chittagong in Eastern Bengal, 

 Sylhet and Cachar in Assam, and Henzada in Burma. The industry is almost 

 entirely confined to women. It has been suggested more than once that this 

 fibre would make an excellent substitute for the Panama fibre in hat manu- 

 facture. The plant also yields a pith, which is discarded by the sitalpati makers, 

 but which might well be employed as a paper material if procurable in sufficient 

 quantity. [Cf. O. W., in Capital, April 25, 1901.] 



Cocos nucifera, Linn, (see p. 356). 



Corypha umbraeulifera, Linn, (see p. 429). 



Crotalaria juncea, Linn, (see pp. 435-6). 



Cyperus tegetum, Roxb. etc. (see pp. 467-8). 



Hedychium spicatum, Ham. ; the sit-ruti, kapurkachri, sheduri, etc. The 

 leaves of this plant are made into the sleeping-mats employed by the hill tribes, 

 where the plant is at all plentiful. 



Hibiscus tiliaceus, Linn. ; a large and abundant bush and affords a fibre 

 obtainable by a process much less tedious than with most other fibre-yielding 

 plants a fibre which would appear well adapted for the manufacture of mats, 

 ropes, and possibly also paper. In the Panjab it is occasionally employed in 

 the construction of charpais, sides of carts, seats of bullock-waggons and mats. 

 In New Caledonia and Tahiti it is made into fishing-nets (see p. 629). 



Ischaemum angustifolium, Hack, (see pp. 694, 865). 



Juneus effusus, Linn. ; Fl. Br. Ind., vi., 392. This common European rush 

 is found in the Sikkim Himalaya and Khasia hills from 6,000 to 10,000 feet. 

 -j. f/innctin. Ehrh. Beitr., which is not unlike the former species, though stiffer 

 and darker, is met with in the Western Himalaya, Nilgiri hills and Ceylon. 

 The European plant is in considerable vogue for the manufacture of baskets, 

 mats and chair-seats, and it is suggested that similar uses might be found for 

 one or both species in India, where they are at present entirely neglected. 



Melocanna bambusoides, 7>/. (see Bambusa, p. 103). 



Nannorhops Ritchieana, H. Wendl. Fl. Br. Ind., vi., 429 ; Gamble, Man. 

 Ind. Timbs., 733 ; PALMED. The mazri, patha, kilu, pfis, etc. Usually astemless 

 shrub, but occasionally develops a stem 10 to 14 feet long. It is met with in 

 Sind and the Western Panjab as well as in the Kuram Valley and in Baluchistan, 

 many acres of country about Harnai being covered with it, and ascending the 

 hills to 5,500 feet above the sea. 



In former times it was common all over Kohat, but railway construction has 

 led to an increased export to the Cis-Indus districts, and the more easily available 

 mazri supplies have been exhausted. In 1882 measures were taken to protect 

 the palm. The green leaves are beaten out with a mallet, and the fibre obtained 

 is used for matting, fans, baskets, hats, sandals, nets, etc. Waziri baskets 

 and mats procured at Bannu are famous all over the Western Panjab. Rope 

 is also made from the stems and leaf-stalks, though apparently it is not very 

 strong. The leaf-bud, young inflorescence and fruit are eaten, and the leaves 

 regarded as a purgative medicine for cattle. The seeds are made into rosaries 

 and exported from Baluchistan (Gwadur) to Mecca. The price of mazri matting 

 in Peshawar is about Rs. 8 per 100 sq. yards, and its popularity appears to be 

 increasing. 



Nipa fruticans, Wurmb. ; Fl. Br. Ind., vi., 424 ; Gamble, Man. Ind. Timbs., 

 729 ; PALMED. The gulga, golphal (fruit), golpatta (leaves), dani, etc. ; a large 

 creeping gregarious palm of the Sundribans, Chittagong, Burma and the An- 

 damansl The old fruits are large, the interior being hard like ivory, but trans- 

 parent ; they are carried to the sea and floated to great distances. The leaf- 

 stalks are used to help in floating sundri logs in the Sundribans, also as fishing- 

 floats. The leaves are very largely employed for thatching and in making mats. 

 In the Straits Settlements they are used for covering cigarettes. Toddy is 

 obtained from the spathe (as Linschoten observed in 1598), and the young fruit 

 is edible. Gamble states that the trade in golpatta. leaves in the Sundribans 

 amounts yearly to about 135,000 tons, valued at nearly Rs. 60,000. 



Oryza -Rice Straw (see p. 826). In Kullu and Hazara, mats called mandri 

 and phindi, as also string, are made of rice-straw. 



Pandanus, the screw-pines, might be described as a genus of palm-like 

 evergreen trees or shrubs, often scandent and possessed of copious and strong 

 aerial roots. They are met with in the moist tropical regions, chiefly Mascarene 

 and Malayan. Hooker (Fl. Br. Ind., vi., 483-7) describes some seven Indian 



776 



