TRUE ALOES FIBRE. 51 
True Axoxs (Aloe vulgaris, Barbadensis, &c.) 
The true genus Aloe, or the plants which yield the medi- 
cinal drug of that name, abound at the Cape of Good Hope, 
on the west coast of Africa, and on that of Arabia, with one or 
two species in India, They might be supposed to yield much 
fibre from the frequency with which we find the name applied 
to some of those met with in commerce; but these we have 
seen are the produce of a species of Agave, commonly 
called American Aloe (v. p. 41, &c). The leaves of the true 
Aloes are, in all the countries where the species are indigenous, 
as well as in the West Indies, where one or two of them have 
been long introduced, cut up and boiled down to yield the ex- 
tract called Aloes. In some cases the yellow juice is allowed 
to exude from the cut leaf to form what is called Socotrine 
Aloes; but nowhere is the fibre which these leaves undoubtedly 
contain turned to useful account. It is probable, however, that 
it might, even when the leaves are cut into small pieces, be 
separated at little expense, for the use of the paper-maker. 
That the fibre, as well as the tow, of the true Aloes is of a 
good and useful quality, is satisfactorily proved by the speci- 
mens of both sent from Madras by Dr. Hunter, as those of the 
kala-buntha, or of the species which is there called Aloe per- 
foliata, and which is, probably, the same plant with red flowers 
which I named Aloe indica, and found in dry situations in 
North-West India. The fibre is white in colour, fine in quality, 
with sufficient tenacity for textile fabrics, and readily takes 
colours, as shown by the orange, red, and crimson-coloured 
specimens sent by Dr. Hunter. The fibres are about two feet 
in length, and have considerable strength. A bundle of the 
fibres bore 160 Ib., when a similar one of Petersburgh hemp 
broke with the same weight. 
Moorva Fisrz, Maroon of Madras (Sanseviera zeylanica). 
Bowstring Hemp. Sans.—Mirva. Beng.—Moorga and Moorgavee. Tamool—Maril. 
Sanseviera is a genus of Liliaceous plants, of which individuals 
are very abundant on the coast of Guinea and of other parts of 
