60 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



shoot affords him a lance-shaft, and he finds its 

 hardened point a natural head for the weapon. 

 With the hardened stems he builds the walls 

 and roof of his hut, its leaves afford him an 

 impenetrable thatch, split into narrow slips it 

 gives him the material for weaving his nets, 

 and other articles of domestic convenience, and 

 its fibre furnishes him with twine. Would he 

 commit himself to the waves, the stems form 

 the hull of his boat, which, by a few skins 

 stretched over it, is rendered water-tight ; the}' 

 also give him masts, and these slips of wood 

 become cordage, and are woven into sails." 



In Japan, China, and India, the stems of the 

 bamboo are applied to a great variety of useful 

 purposes. Water pipes are made of them ; 

 they are used in constructing fences, houses, 

 and boats, and a variety of articles of furniture. 

 Some of the gigantic reeds of Brazil, called 

 Taquarussa, are living fountains ; they grow 

 from thirty to forty feet high, and eighteen 

 inches in circumference, forming thorny im- 

 penetrable thickets ; to hunters and travellers 

 they are exceedingly grateful, for, on cutting 

 off such a reed just below the joint, the stem 

 of the younger shoots is found to be full of a 

 cool liquid, which quenches the most burning 

 thirst. 



Another gigantic grass, which has been more 

 closely identified with the interests of the 

 human race than any other of the tribe, is the 

 sugar-cane. It is a native of the old world, 

 which was cultivated in China and the South 



