CALOOEE. 107 



natives to be made of a remarkably strong and beau- 

 tiful fibre. He learnt that these strings usually lasted 

 five years though in constant use, and exposed to all 

 the vicissitudes of the weather. His attention was 

 awakened to the subject, and he was sedulous in his 

 inquiries after the plant which produced this valuable 

 material, uniting strength, durability, and elasticity. 

 He found on examining the plant called Jetee by the 

 natives, that it was a species of Asclepias, to which 

 he gave the name of the bowstring creeper. It is a 

 twining plant with few or no branches, having leaves 

 growing opposite on hairy foot-stalks, and at a dis- 

 tance from each other. The fibres are obtained by 

 stripping off the bark from the tender succulent shoots 

 after they have been exposed to the sun for a day, in 

 order to evaporate a milky juice which exudes from 

 the cut stalk. The only implements which are then 

 used to cleanse the fibres are the finger nails, and 

 those persons who have been provident enough to 

 keep these very long, expeditiously scrape the pulpy 

 parts away, one man so provided being able to cleanse 

 a considerable quantity of fibres in a day. According 

 to Dr. Roxburgh the fibres of this plant are the 

 strongest of any yet known. 



A plant indigenous to Sumatra called Calooee, or 

 Urtica tenacissima, produces material for excellent 

 twine. It is very easy of cultivation and of most 

 luxuriant and rapid vegetation, throwing up numerous 

 shoots which may be cut and will be renewed three 

 or four times in the course of the year. Its stem 

 would become ligneous and covered with brown bark 

 if suffered to attain to its full growth, while it would 

 throw out many branches spreading considerably; 

 but the young shoots are those which are used, and 

 on the stem being cut down, numerous straight 

 simple shoots spring up from one to eight feet, 



