132 TEXTILE FIBRES. 



dated 15th April 1899, Esparto is reported on as follows : "The very 

 limited demand and dull tone recorded in our last issue have continued, 

 if indeed they have not become intensified, during the past few weeks. 

 Buyers and sellers alike have shown a disinclination to consider 

 new business of any magnitude, and as a result the volume of actual 

 transactions has been small and uninteresting. The heavy receipts of 

 the first two months of the year were followed in March by a very 

 moderate arrival, which was insufficient to bring the quarter's total to 

 the level either of 1897 or 1898. The falling off, however, was slight, 

 the twelve months' receipts, although below those of the corre- 

 sponding period of last year, are 

 considerably over those of 1897. 

 Imports, so far as recorded, of 

 the current month have been full, 

 and although these are almost 

 wholly passing away from ship's 

 side on pre-existing contracts, 

 they tend, as usual with full 

 deliveries, to restrict the con- 

 sideration of new business for 

 even distant fulfilment. There is 

 little or no change in current 

 quotation of prices, but those for 

 new crop Spanish shipments are 

 reported slightly lower, without 



evoking much response from 

 Fig. 89.-Hare' S Tail Cotton Grass. buyer3 Africall sellers are some . 



what reticent as to the future, and do not press offers of distant contracts 

 on the market, since the unfavourable prospects of supplies from Tunis 

 for several months to come may cause consumers' attention to be directed 

 to other descriptions. Freights have been steady, at moderate rates, 

 from all Esparto ports, but there is no excessive supply of steam tonnage 

 being offered homewards." 



The principal kinds of Esparto grass are classified under the names 

 of Spanish, Algerian, Tunisian, and Tripoli. The average current prices 

 for the best Spanish Esparto on the 15th April 1899 were quoted at 

 4, 10s. to 5, 10s. per ton. The total imports of Esparto and other 

 vegetable fibre for paper-making for twelve months ending March 1899 

 reached 195,725 tons. 



Elephant Grass or Reed Mace (Typha elephant ina, Typhaceae). 

 The culms of this plant and of other kinds, viz., the broad-leaved and 

 narrow-leaved Cat's Tail or Reed Mace, are used for making mats, and the 



