30 THE FIBRES OF GRASSES. 
strength. The fibres cleaned within a day or two after the 
plant or leaf had been cut, were found to be white, strong, and 
silky. On wetting the same repeatedly and exposing them to 
the dew, it has been found that their strength is impaired. 
Those fibres that were steeped in water for a few days 
acquired somewhat of the colour of English tow. Those 
steeped for three weeks became quite rotten, brown, and brittle. 
Dr. Hunter has further ascertained by experiment that 
the partial drying of the leaves or bark of plants in the sun, 
as recommended and practised by the natives, does more harm 
than good, as it makes the process of cleaning more tedious, 
and is apt to tinge the fibres. Such as have been thoroughly 
dried in the sun before being cleaned, give brittle and often 
brown-coloured fibres, unless there be naturally very little 
moisture to be dried up. The only way he found of preparing 
fibres by rotting, is that followed by the natives in a few 
localities near large rivers, where the leaves of the Agave, 
from their outside hardness, are sometimes buried under wet 
sand below the level of the water in the river. 
Grasses (Gramina). 
The grasses so extensively diffused, and in different forms 
as pasturage for cattle and corn for man, so essential for the 
continued existence of the animal kingdom, are seldom thought 
of as materials for cordage. Yet they were probably the first 
substances which were converted into rope; for the simple 
twisting between the hands of the flexible leaves and pliant 
stems of many of the grasses will form a rope, as is daily practised 
with bands of hay or those of straw. In the chairs of the 
Crystal Palace, we may see the rush-like bottoms are formed of 
the twisted straw of rye. Others are employed for thatching, 
and some for platting, screen- and mat-making. All purposes 
which indicate the presence of fibre of sufficient tenacity to 
bear at least a certain degree of strain and of pressure. But 
in these plants, as well as in sedges and rushes, the fibre is not 
always separated from the rest of the vegetable matter, but the 
whole leaf or stem is dried, and used in its entire state. As 
the fibre, however, possesses the requisite degree of tenacity, 
