FIBRES. 



" Malacca Canes'* of Sumatra, and C. Rotang, Linn, and other species 

 the common rattans of commerce. " Penang Lawyers" are the young 

 stems of Licuala acutijicla, Mart, of the Eastern Archipelago. The vulgar 

 designation is not complimentary to the sticks. 



N. O. 266. GRAMINE^E. GRASSES. 

 Saccharum spontaneum. Linn. 



Linn. Syst. Triandria Digynia. 



The culm. 



Vernacular. Kasha, Sans. Kashiya, Beng. Kctgara, Hind. Kahn, 

 Sindh. Relloogaddy, Tel. 



Habitat. India. 



Remarks. Sir W. Jones writes (Asiat. Res. IV. p, 248) : " This beau- 

 tiful and superb grass is highly celebrated in the Puranas, the Indian God 

 of war having been born in a grove of it which burst into a flame." 

 He attaches to it the Sanscrit synonyme of Sara, and observes : " The 

 Casd t vulgarly Casia, has a shorter culm, leaves much narrower, longer, 

 and thicker hairs, but a smaller panicle, less compounded, without the 

 purplish tints of the Sara. It is often described, with praise by the Hindoo 

 poets for the whiteness of its blossoms, which give a large plain at some 

 distance the appearance of a broad river. Both plants are extremely use- 

 ful to the Indians, who harden the internodal parts of the culms, and 

 cut them into implements for writing on their polished paper. From the 

 munja or culm of the Sara was made the maunji, a holy thread, ordained 

 by MENU to form the sacerdotal girdle, in preference even to the Cusa- 

 grass." 



In these passages Sir W. Jones apparently refers to three distinct spe- 

 cies. His Casd is evidently S. spontaneum, Linn, to which he has, it 

 would seem wrongly applied the synonyme of Sara, the S. Sara of 

 Roxburgh, or Pen-reed Grass of Anglo-Indians. S. Munja, Rox. is 

 the true Munja. For Cusa, see " Miscellaneous Class." 



The Sur of Sindh, Boyle conjectures may be Arundo Karka, Linn, of 

 which the Durma mats of Bengal are made. Various Rushes, N. O. 250, 

 are used in different parts of the world for chair-bottoms, baskets, mats, 

 and Japan mats are said to be made of Juncus effusus, a native also of 

 Europe. Of Bulrushes, N. O. 256, the leaves of Typha elephanlina, 

 Rox. the Pun, and Booree of Sindh, are used in that country for mats 

 and baskets. Of Sedges, N. O. 265, Eriophorwm cannabinum, the Bha- 

 bur, or Bhaburee of Hindoostan, is used everywhere along the Himalayas 

 for making ropes, and the elegant shining mats for which Calcutta is 

 celebrated are made of Papyrus Pangorei, Nees ab Esen. Papyrus anti- 

 quorum of the Nile (translated Bulrush, and Hush, in the Bible), is the 

 Sedge from the pith of which the ancients made paper. What are China, 

 and Zanzibar mats, and the lambas of Madagascar, made of? Thatch, 

 320 



