THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 99 



only 18 inches in diameter at the base. The wood 

 itself is not more than an inch in thickness. The fact 

 that the bamboo is hollow has made it eminently use- 

 ful for a variety of purposes it serves as a measure 

 for liquids, and if fitted with a lid and a bottom, 

 trunks and barrels are made of it. Small boats even 

 are made of the largest trunks by strengthening them 

 with strips of other wood where needed. 



After the sammot, the next largest of the bamboo 

 species is the Illy, which usually reaches a height 

 of from 60 to 70 feet. It is used for the same pur- 

 poses as the Sammot) and, like it, prefers a moist, rich 

 soil. 



The third variety prevails throughout Southern 

 Asia, both on the continent and in the larger islands. 

 It rises to the height of 50 feet. It is employed for 

 the same purposes to which the other two varieties 

 are applied, but is much more useful than either of 

 these. For example, the young sprouts, of the stem 

 and of the root, of the Telin for such is the name 

 given to this bamboo are excellent food and are 

 eaten as we eat asparagus, either prepared with vine- 

 gar and sauces or with other viands. European colo- 

 nists are as fond of these shoots as the natives them- 

 selves. The wood of the Telin unites strength and 

 lightness in a much more extraordinary degree than 

 any other wood, and cut into thin planks or split into 

 laths it is admirably suited for house-building in the 

 tropics. 



A still smaller species of the bamboo, which is 

 not applied to so many purposes in domestic economy, 



