402 THE BAMBOO DESCRIBED. 



trunk, 90 to 120 feet in height, is surmounted by a crown of great 

 fan-shaped leaves, folded longitudinally in their first half, cut in the 

 other, and sustained by prickly supports. The other half is made 

 use of by the Hindus in the shape of paper, or rather tablets, on 

 which they write with the point of a stylet. The spadices (clustered 

 flowers), if incised before reaching maturity, yield a liquid which, 

 after fermentation, forms the favourite Indian beverage of " palm 

 wine." 



The Bamboo, the most gigantic of the tropical Graminese, is 

 plentifully distributed over India, Indo-China, and China, where it 

 frequently nourishes in considerable masses. In height it equals the 

 loftiest palms. Its culm is smooth, glittering, straight, and flexible, 

 of a beautiful yellow colour, and regularly intersected by annular 

 rings marked by so many brown streaks. It wavers gently to and 

 fro with the impulse of the wind, as if to refresh with its breath the 

 light undulating foliage. 



Almost innumerable are the services which this heaven-sent plant 

 renders to the inhabitants of the countries where it flourishes. In 

 hedges or plantations it forms around their abodes a formidable 

 defence. With its stems sawn either in accordance with their 

 diameter, or split longitudinally, the natives not only fabricate a host 

 of utensils and articles of furniture, but build their barks and 

 construct their houses. They extract from the spaces between the 

 joints of the young plant a feculent substance which supplies them 

 with an agreeable nutriment, analogous to sago. A saccharine juice 

 flows spontaneously from the joints formed by the knots ; when 

 fermented it becomes alcoholic and heady like hydromel. The 

 bamboo also proves serviceable in the manufacture of mats and cordage. 

 The slender stems are split into thin strips, which are probably 

 softened in water. These strips, woven together, form mats or 

 carpets of extreme solidity. 



The Banana,* like the Bamboo and most of the palms, is a cosmo- 

 * Order, Musactx. 



