108 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



according to the season, quality of the soil, arid other 

 circumstances. These shoots being cut are dried and 

 beaten to separate the fibres, but it is a tedious and 

 troublesome operation, and unless some more easy 

 process be discovered to disengage the filaments, 

 the difficulty of the work must be a sufficient 

 obstacle to prevent the extensive adoption of this 

 material. 



From a plant similar to this the inhabitants of the 

 Friendly Islands make, it is said, the strongest fish- 

 ing-nets in the world. They likewise manufacture a 

 kind of seine of coarse broad grass, the blades of 

 which resemble flags ; these are twisted and tied 

 together in a loose manner till a large net is formed, 

 which is advantageously employed in smooth shoal 

 water*. 



The Maho-tree, or Hibiscus tiliaceus, is indigenous 

 to, and grows abundantly in both the East and West 

 Indies. The fibres of the inner bark are used for 

 making cordage by the inhabitants of many of the 

 South Sea Islands, and by the American Indians. 

 The Otaheitans make a kind of fine matting from it, 

 and likewise manufacture it into ropes and cords of 

 various thickness, from the size of a packthread to 

 an inch in circumference. It has a woody pithy 

 stem, dividing into several branches towards the top ; 

 these branches are covered with woolly down ; the 

 leaves are heart-shaped. The flowers of a pale yel- 

 low colour, grow in loose spikes at the end of the 

 branches. After being divested of the outer rind, 

 or parenchyma, the fibres are readily drawn off either 

 singly or in flakes, and are without preparation 

 rendered available to each purpose for which they 

 are used. Voyagers relate that these filaments are 

 adapted to any kind of cordage, even for the rigging 

 * Hawkesbury's Voyages Marsden's Sumatra. 



