112 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



parts of the East Indies and the South Sea Islands 

 and likewise in Australia. This is a perennial of 

 rapid growth. The bark of its young shoots pre- 

 pared like the hemp plant is capable of being manu- 

 factured into good ropes. It produces annually two 

 and perhaps three crops of shoots, in a proper state 

 for cutting. Cords are likewise made from the bark 

 of the Sterculia villosa, which are so tenacious that 

 the natives of the eastern frontiers of Bengal use 

 them to bind the wild elephants when first taken, and 

 when it requires no small coercion to restrain the 

 indignant rage of the entrapped animals. 



The inhabitants of some parts of the West Indies 

 apply the bark of a species of mangrove* to the pur- 

 poses of cordage, whence this tree is distinguished as 

 the rope mangrove. The bark, when green, is easily 

 detached from the wood, by reason of the great 

 abundance of sap which it contains. This bark is 

 then bruised between stones until the ligneous and 

 cortical parts are entirely separated from each other. 

 The last is the useful and fibrous substance, which is 

 twisted into ropes of all sizes. These are exceedingly 

 strong, and have the great advantage of not being 

 injured by moisture, 



The natives of the Gold Coast make rope and 

 thread of the leaf of the palm, and in some of the 

 islands of the South Pacific Ocean a kind of thread 

 is made of the filaments of the mid-rib and foot-stalk 

 of the leaf of a species of plantain called the Pesang f 

 Twine is also made of the bark of the Baroo-tree, 

 another production of these islands. 



According to Thunberg the bark of another tree, 

 the Anthyllis, which is a native of Southern Africa, is 

 also converted into ropes. ** Of the bark of the 

 anthyllis," says that accurate traveller, ** the Hot- 

 tentots have the art of making ropes, by means of 

 * This tree will be described in a future chapter. 



