209 
“ tous les quartiers d’fle.” He does not mention pablo cubensis a 
p Furcraea gigantea is supposed to have been Sia from South 
; America to Mauritius about 1790. It has evidently found a congenial 
home there, for Sitko any effort on the part of man it has covered 
waste lands ‘and abandoned sugar estates to such an extent as to lay the 
foundation of a considerable fibre industry. The leaves are often 8 feet 
i > to 7 ine in br 
and soon acts upon wrought iron ; it is said to produce cv panara 
cast iron, while it is practically inoperative on brass and ¢ 
The p lant grows in all soils and up to an elevation of 1 "800 feet above 
y level of the sea. It has, however, more generally disseminated itself 
n the lowlands near so Pr and ona few of the abandoned sugar 
eaten that have become too dry for cane cultiv 
A fibre industry was saried at os Se apr 12 years ago, when 
‘ the wet or retting ports s tried cut leaves were first "passed 
3 through the rollers of a sugar mill Ea eee in copie for some days. 
The fibre was then washed and beaten out by hand in running water. 
This process was soon found unsuitable, as the fibre was discoloured and 
rendered weak; consequently it obtained comparatively low prices. 
Attention was then directed to extraction by means of a gratteuse or 
hi 
scntching machine. Many machines been tried, and 
apparently the purely mechanical difficulties connected with cleaning 
the fibre have been for the most part overcome. e amount of fibre 
obtained from leaves of the 4 lobs vert was at the rate ‘of 3 per cent. by 
weight of green leaves. The yield of fibre was at the rate of about 1} 
tons per acre. A set of six machines, driven by a steam engine of 5 horse- 
power (nominal), cleaned 1,155 pounds of fibre per day, which is at thé 
rate of 197. pounds for each machine per day. 
At one tim oat there were eight fibre or hemp companies formed, with a 
total lates of Rs. 1,182,500. The total quantity of fibre exported in 
1872 was 214 tons, of the value of 4,934/., which would be at the rate of 
211, LBs. tes ton. In 1880 it had increased to 662 tons, which sold in 
— at 287. to 32/. per ton. Some samples in 1882 sold as high as 
to Since that time low prices have ruled, and this added to 
the fact that the cost of production was considerably per tended 
to discourage the industry. It is evident the industry was t started 
to wo rk off ane leaves of self-grown plants which were ready at hand in 
n 
rendered the enterprise, for a period at least, unremunerative. , In the 
returns of 1885 we find that Mauritius pomp imported to this country 
amounted to 255 tons, of the value of 39/. per ton. In Messrs. Ide and 
Christie’s monthly circular, Dec. 1886, Mansion “hemp is quoted “in 
good demand ” at 23/. per ton. 
The following erinu nka from Mr. Horne’s Report on the Agri- 
stances under oheh a fibre industry was as started and the causes whi 
have operated to produce the present- Seprono which in the interest 
of the island it is hoped will be only of a temporary ¢ character :— 
: “The industry of extracting fibres from the leaves of the aloés vert is 
“by no t exhausted. There is ground for believing that it 
8895 o 
