FIBRES OF THE FINE-APPLE LEAVES. 209 



of this plant. The aloes likewise yield a fine 

 fibre applicable for various manufactures.* I am 

 surprised that the New Zealand flax, the fibres 

 from the foliage of the pine-apple plant, and 

 others, are not used in our manufacturing king- 

 dom, where, there is no doubt, they would form 

 a valuable addition to our raw materials for use 

 in various novel manufactures, either by them- 

 selves or in conjunction with other materials. 

 The first appearance of the pine-apple fibre 

 would not cause one to suppose it to be so re- 

 markably fine as it really is ; but, by taking one 

 coarse fibre, it is found to be capable of being 

 subdivided into threads of such delicacy as to be 

 barely perceptible, and yet sufficiently strong for 

 any purposes. f This plantation abounded in 



* " At Amboyna," says Labillardiere, " the natives con- 

 trive to procure threads from the bastard aloe, called Agave 

 vivipara : the master of the house went and cut a branch of 

 this plant, and resting it on its thigh in order to scrape it 

 with his large knife, and take off its pulp, he obtained from it 

 a fascicle of threads as long as the leaf, and as strong as 

 those of our best hemp." 



-}- From the expense attending labour, as well as its 

 scarcity in this settlement, the pine-apple fibre could not be 

 prepared at present under thirty-eight or forty dollars the 

 pecul ; but in Pinang, or other places, where labour is cheap, 

 and, as in the preparation of this article, women and children 

 may be employed, the expense attending it would hardly 

 exceed ten dollars per pecul. 



VOL. II. P 



