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bright sunny day was found damp late in the afternoon. The 
ground was covered with decaying vegetation. It was a country 
in which leeches and mosquitoes were plentiful. The forest 
trees grew to a great height. The leaves of the aroids were 
around the upper part of the trunks of the trees and roots of 
various lengths dangled down from aroid stem 
e tips of air-roots are generally from six to uate feet from 
a few feet to sixty or more feet. The epidermis and cortex are 
readily removed exposing the central cylinder which is used in 
basketry. While the Filipinos previously employed the roots 
In some species, e. g., a um elmeria’ emain 
white; in others, Raphidophora copelandii, they are oxidized 
to a light-brown; while in others, e. g., merrilliz, they turn 
to a dark-brown or almost black color. The red air-roots 
however as good a basketry material as the air-roots owing to 
the presence of leaf scars. 
mong vines of lesser importance in the Philippines may be 
mentioned the vegetable sponge, Luffa cylindrica, which in the 
provinces of Abra and Bulacan is used occasionally for children’s 
ats. The use of the vegetable sponge for bathroom articles 
is unknown to the Filipinos. 
Entada scandens, a vine in the family of Leguminosae, has an 
almost universal use in the Philippines as a substitute for soap. 
