FIBRES 



Countries of destination 

 Netherlands ... 

 Netherlands f/t 

 United Kingdom 

 France 

 Germany 

 Singapore 

 Other countries 



Total 



50,032 



56,826 



60,582 



Uses. Rattan of inferior quality is often used in Java 

 as a material for binding purposes and basket work. The 

 natives of the Netherland East Indies twist the rattan 

 into different articles for daily use, especially furniture. 

 The Netherland East Indies is an important consumer of 

 its own product. In sugar mills and in other branches 

 of industry, where strong material for binding is required, 

 great quantities of rattan are used, which are specially 

 imported to Java from Borneo. The dark-coloured kind 

 of rattan is used by the natives for the manufacture 

 of rigging, and in coal-mines and fisheries as basket 

 material. In Europe and America also the rattan is much 

 in demand, where it is used in the furniture industry and 

 for the manufacture of trunks and basket work. 



AGAVE FIBRES. 



Distribution in the Netherland East Indies. A great 

 many different species of agave and fibre-producing 

 plants of the same order are found in the Netherland 

 East Indies growing wild, and. the natives have for many 

 years known the valuable properties of the fibres of the 

 leaves of these plants, which are prepared by them in the 

 most primitive way. 



Cultivation by Europeans*. The fibre obtained by the 

 natives is mostly short, insufficiently cleaned, and 

 coloured. Owing to these circumstances this product 

 would never have become an export article of much 

 importance had not the European planters in the Nether- 

 land East Indies taken an interest in its cultivation. 

 This took place at the beginning of this century, 

 and the number of agave plantations rapidly increased 

 when in the years 1903 to 1905 the prices were 

 extraordinarily high. But after the last-mentioned year 



