172 [Assembly 



found in nearly all parts of the Malayan Archipelago. So readily 

 does the plant grow here that Dr. Roxhurgh was enabled, in one 

 year, to rear above one thousand from the four received from Mr. 

 Ewer. He says it is as readily cultivated as the willow from cut- 

 tings, throwing up numerous shoots as they are cut down for the 

 fibres of their bark, which may be done, about three or four (rarely 

 five) times every year, if the soil is good, and care taken of the 

 plants 



Dr. Roxburgh obtained a further supply of these plants from a 

 friend at Penang, where it is known by the name Ramy; the Ma- 

 lays he observes, use the bark for sewing thread and twine, and for 

 making fishing nets; "but the quantity is so small that they require 

 for these purposes, that they have not had recourse to any particular 

 mode of stripping or cleaning it; they merely steep the shoots in 

 water for 10 or 12 days, and then peel off the bark and dry it in the 

 sun. I have heard that the thread is injured by salt water, but I da 

 not think the account I have had of the circumstance is to be de- 

 pended on, and certainly from the nature of the plant, the facility 

 with which it appears it may be cultivated to any extent, the great 

 strength of fibre, and the threatened scarcity of ropes for the use of 

 the navy, it is w:orth while making experiments on it." Col. Low, 

 in his dissertation on Penang and Province Wellesley, published 

 thirty years after the above remarks were penned, alludes to the same 

 plant, and by the same name; {Ra-7ne Ra-7ne,) as yielding a sort of 

 hemp, and used for the same purpose, and he observes that it might 

 be easily manufactured into the linen which in China is called grass 

 cloth; " the Chinese here," — he adds — "call the plant cho, and al- 

 lege that it is the same as that which grows in China, where it is 

 used for making the cloth just mentioned. This same description of 

 nettle is indigenous also to the Philippine Islands as we learn from 

 a work in the Spanish language, compiled by Father Manual Blan- 

 co, and published ten years ago at Manilla, under the title " Flora 

 de Filipinas." As the writer likewise alludes to the circumstance 

 of this plant being supposed to be the same that yields the grass 

 cloth of China, we think it as well to give the following translation 

 from his work, for which we are indebted to a friend:— r 



"This plant is common in the northern part of the isle of Luzon, 

 and in the Batan islands, attaining the heighth of one yard, (vara) 

 or more; the prepared bark is spun with thread and woven into 

 cloth, from it is made it is said, the celebrated linen of Canton; of 

 this I have been assured by many persons, but when in the north of 



