156 THE BAMBOO. 



sected by the Himalaya range, and therefore the cold is 

 greater than in the same same latitudes in the north- 

 west. The Himalaya mountains dip five degrees south- 

 ward from west to east side of India. 



THE BAMBOO 



Could successfully be introduced in America. It is of 

 the greatest use in India, and is converted to various pur- 

 poses. Walking-sticks, fishing rods, bed-frames, handles 

 for tools, roofing for houses, sieves, baskets, hampers, c., 

 are made of it. It is also used as vessels for carrying 

 water in, amongst the more savage races of India. It is 

 made means of to hold rice, tobacco, salt, c. Of it 

 mats are made. It is pickled ; and, though last, one of 

 the best, perhaps one of its greatest uses, in a mercantile 

 view, is the immense quantity of paper made of it. The 

 soft parts of the bamboo are used for pickles, and 

 as a vegetable. The young bamboos are used for making 

 paper. The following is nearly the mode of manufacture : 



The green bamboo is placed in a vat about ten feet 

 square, (it may be larger,) built of brick and lime, and 

 from three to four feet deep, and is allowed to soften in 

 the water for several days. It is then taken out, and 

 pounded until it becomes a pulp, from which the coarse 

 and knotty parts, &c. are carefully separated. It is then 

 mixed up with water to the consistency necessary for 

 paper.* 



The bamboo grows to a great length, from twenty to 

 thirty feet, and the larger kind are thirteen to fifteen 

 inches in circumference. The thickness of the shell in 



* The Chinese make coffins of the bamboo, having no other wood. 



