504 FIBRES 



to the first fibre industry in British East Africa. Pioneers 

 found the natives splitting the stems into thongs of 

 exceptional tensile strength, with which they bound 

 together the framework of their grass huts, proving the 

 utility of the fibre. 



The Government granted concessions to cut the leaf, 

 and three factories were erected to decorticate the fibre 

 for the European market. A yellowish fibre is produced 

 about 2.\ to 4 ft. long, of good appearance, but somewhat 

 brittle and lacking in strength. 



The plant is found growing in thick clumps from a 

 spreading, stout root; half-a-dozen or so stems spring 

 from this, grouped fan-shaped, like iris leaves. The 

 leaf reaches an average height of 4 to 5 ft., but excep- 

 tional plants are occasionally seen 14 ft. high. 



The cutting is laborious, as the plant grows under low, 

 thorny scrub, which must be cut with it. The native 

 labourers have to go farther and farther afield, since the 

 root generally perishes when the leaf is cut. In one 

 plantation the cutting was taking place ten miles away 

 from the factory, a line of rails and a locomotive having 

 been imported to transport the leaf; in another a mono- 

 rail is in use. Though isansevieria probably contains 

 15 per cent, of fibre, the machinery can only extract 

 about 3 to 4 per cent. 



The factories are built open-ended with a suction gas 

 plant for motive power, the fuel consisting of charcoal 

 made on the spot from local wood. A powerful crusher 

 prepares the leaf for the decorticator, and it has been 

 found that the Corona machine, made by Messrs. Krupp, 

 gives the best results, producing, when worked at full 

 speed for eight to nine hours, about 2\ to 3 tons of clean, 

 dry fibre. This entails the transport of 80 to. 100 tons 

 of leaf per day. 



When decorticated the fibre is spread in lines in the 

 sunlight, and after a few hours' exposure is packed for 

 export in bales of about 2 cwt. No washing is done. 



Enormous deposits of waste, containing a large per- 

 centage of fibre, accumulate round the factory, and are 

 a source of expense to remove. As this material contains 

 much fibre rich in cellulose, it should make a valuable 



