196 _ REPORT—1858. 
and weaving, and described as weaving cloth made of fibres from trees more beautiful 
than from sheep’s wool; and in the Institutes of Menu, written before the Christian 
era, we learn that the sacrificial thread of a Brahmin must be made of cotton; that 
of a Cshatriya, of Sana thread only; that of a Vaisya, of woollen thread. It is sup- 
posed, that the Sana thread was most probably that of the Sunn (Crotalaria juncea). 
Buddha, in his sermons preached 600 years before Christ, interdicted to women the 
use of certain muslins because they were too fine for decent concealment. 
The Ambaree (Hibiscus cannabinus), or Mesta plant of Bengal and Palungo of 
Madras and Ambaree of Western India, is very generally cultivated all over India; 
it grows from three to seven feet in height, the stem straight and simple; it is usually 
called Indian Hemp, or one of the Brown Hemps of Bombay. 
Bandikai of Madras, and Bendy of Bombay (Hibiscus longifolius), grows to a great 
height and very straight, with a few branches, and with pyramidal pods, which, when 
young, are filled with a large proportion of mucilage, and are gathered and cooked as 
a vegetable; the fruit is also used to thicken soups, and the seeds added like barley 
to it; they may be also roasted as a substitute for coffee. 
The Deckanee Hemp, Ambaree, grows with astraight clear stem from four to seven 
feet in height; its leaves are in general used as an esculent vegetable by the natives, 
and taste something like sorrel. 
Rouselle (Hibiscus Sabdariffa) is cultivated in most gardens, because its calices as 
they ripen become fleshy, and are of a pleasant acid taste, and are employed for making 
tarts, as well as an excellent jelly. 
Marool of Madras, or Bowstring Hemp (Sanseviera).—The leaves when cultivated 
are from three to four feet long; the fibre extends their whole length; from these 
fibres the ancient Hindoos made a very tough elastic thread, of which they made their 
bowstrings. 
The Naroo and the Naroo T fibres being both new ones, no description is yet given, 
except that they are natives of Malabar. 
The Bunochra (Urena lobata), and the Kungio (Urena sinuata), are from two 
weeds common in most parts of India. 
The Mudar, or Mudder, is met with in both the southern as well as the northern 
parts of India, in considerable quantities in all uncultivated lands, and encroaches 
even on cultivated grounds. It is a plant with broad, fleshy, glaucous-coloured leaves, 
and which, when pierced, gives out a milky juice from every part; this is called Ak 
and Mudar in northern, and Yercum in southern India. It is the Asclepias gigantea 
of botanists. Its juice and the powdered bark of its roots are employed medicinally 
by the natives of India in cases of leprosy and other cutaneous affections; lately its 
milky juice has been collected by making incisions into the plant, and preparing it as 
a substitute for caoutchouc and gutta percha. 
The pods of the Mudar are full of a beautiful glossy silk down, which the natives 
spin into a beautiful soft thread; from intimation given, this article will soon come 
into great use in the trade of this town (Leeds). The native mode of separating the 
fibres of the Mudar is tedious, rude, and injurious; notwithstanding it is one of the 
strongest fibres known, as, from experiments made by Dr. Wight, it bore 552 lbs., 
when Crotalaria juncea bore only 404 lbs., and a small cord bore 3 ewt., without 
showing the least symptom of distress; yet by the samples now produced it certainly 
seems better adapted for purposes of flax than hemp; and well will it be for both 
housewives and servants if ever it should be brought into general domestic use instead 
of flax, for common washing with soap and water will bleach the fibre a perfect white, 
beautiful and glossy. 
The Bromelia Ananas, and Bromelia Pigna, also the Karatto fibres, are all of the 
different qualities of Bromeliacee, or the pine-apple tribe. It appears the pine-apple 
was first introduced into India by the Portuguese ; it has now become so naturalized 
as to appear indigenous: it grows in enormous quantities in various parts of India; 
indeed so plentiful, that a boat load of the fruit has been sold for one rupee, or two 
shillings, at Sincapoor and Malacca. 
The Perida fetida, or the Vegetable Silk: there can be no doubt but that this 
extraordinarily beautiful article will ere long enter largely into every description of. 
ladies’ apparel. 
The Neilgherry Nettle (Urtica heterophylla), or the Vegetable Wool: indeed so 
