THE BAMBOO. 131 



of this strong cane, but almost every article of furniture which 

 it contains — mats, screens, chairs, tables, bedsteads, bedding — 

 is of the same material. From the young shoots they also 

 fabricate their fine writing-paper, which is so superior to the 

 produce of our own manufactories. Although the bamboo grows 

 spontaneously and most profusely in nearly all the southern 

 portion of their vast empire, they do not entirely rely on the 

 beneficence of Nature, but cultivate it with the greatest care* 

 They have treatises devoted solely to this subject, laying down 

 rules derived from experience, and showing the proper soils, 

 the best kinds of water, and the seasons for planting and 

 transplanting the bamboos, whose use is scarcely less extensive 

 throughout the whole East Indian world. 



At one season of the year the bamboos are easily destroyed 

 by fire ; and as the great stem-joints burst from the expansion 

 of the air confined within, the report almost rivals the roar of 

 cannon. In Sikkim firing the jungle is a frequent practice, 

 and Dr. Hooker, who often witnessed the spectacle, describes 

 the effect by night as exceedingly grand. ' Heavy clouds canopy 

 the mountains above, and, stretching across the valleys, shut 

 out the sky ; the air is a dead calm, as usual in the deep gorges ; 

 and the fires, invisible by day, are seen raging all around, 

 appearing to an inexperienced eye in all but dangerous 

 proximity. The voices of birds and insects being hushed, no- 

 thing is audible but the harsh roar of the rivers, and occasion- 

 ally rising far above it, that of the forest fires. At night we 

 were literally surrounded by them ; some smouldering like the 

 shale-heaps at a colliery, others fitfully bursting forth, whilst 

 others again stalked along with a steadily increasing and en- 

 larging flame, shooting out great tongues of fire, which spared 

 nothing as they advanced with irresistible might. At Darjilino- 

 the blaze is visible, and the deadened reports of the bamboos 

 bursting is heard throughout the night ; but in the valley, and 

 within a mile of the scene of destruction, the effect is the 

 most grand, being heightened by the glare reflected from the 

 masses of mist which hover above.' * 



The aloes form the strongest contrast to the airy lightness of 

 the grasses, by the stately repose and strength of their thick, 



* 'Himalayan Journals,' vol. i. p. 146. 



' K 2 ' 



