44 Fibres of the Ifa'a'aiian Islands. 



plants soon become well established and a full crop maj^ be har- 

 vested in about two years. By judicious arrangement of the plants 

 in succession of growth the output of fibre may be made continual, 

 and a plantation worked through twice a year. After each cutting 

 the growth becomes denser, and it is said that the plant will in time 

 eradicate everything else. A plantation may be cropped for many 

 years without renewal, and need fear no extremes of rain or drought, 

 as sansevieria appears indifferent to either. 



The preparation of this fibre is similar to that of sisal, the 

 native hand method consisting of removing the parench5mia with a 

 blunt instrument and the usual process of washing and drying. 

 Forty pounds of leaves from three to four feet long are said to yield 

 one pound of dry fibre ; and two crops, consisting in all of about 

 3500 pounds, may be expedled from an acre of about 3000 plants. 

 An experiment couducfled under favorable circumstances on a small 

 scale yielded a proportion of 13 tons per acre. The value of 

 sansevieria may be taken as greater than that of sisal. The in- 

 troduction of the cultivation of sansevieria fibre to these Islands 

 appears to be one of exceptional promise. The adaptability of this 

 plant to the Hawaiian climate, its rapid continuous and vigorous 

 growth, its quick and abundant harvest, its easy producflion and 

 value assure it a promising future and the consideration of enter- 

 prising capitalists. 



COIR. 



Endogen. Structural Fibre.. Palnuc. Cocas nucijera. 



Coir is a fibre produced in the husk surrounding the fruit of the 

 coconut palm. This plant is said to be indigenous to Southern 

 India, but it is found extensively in all tropical countries. The 

 fibre is in general use throughovit the Pacific, India and the West 

 Indies, where it is used by the natives for matting, cordage and 

 other purposes. In the native preparation of coir the husks are 

 removed from the almost ripe nuts by tearing them on an iron spike 

 fixed upright in the ground. One man is said to be able to shred 

 by this means one thousand nuts a day. The husks are thrown 

 into pits to disintegrate by maceration and decomposition, a pro- 

 cess occupying in some cases as long as two years. The fibre is 

 finally separated from other matter by scraping, beating and wash- 

 ing. The coir produced in the Laccadive Islands is considered the 



