52 ANCIENT USE OF MOORVA OR MAROOL FIBRE. 
Africa; also around Ceylon, and all along the Bay of Bengal, 
extending thence to Java and to the coasts of China. 
The leaves are succulent, and abound in fibre remarkable 
for fineness and tenacity. Dr. Roxburgh proposed that the 
fibres wight be called Bowstring hemp in England, because the 
natives of the Circars make their best bowstrings of them. 
Sanseviera zeylanica is the best-known species, and has been 
so called as being common on the Ceylon coast. From it has 
been distinguished S. Rorburghiana, common on the coasts of 
the Bay of Bengal, apparently on insufficient grounds. It is 
figured by Dr. Roxburgh himself under its former name in his 
‘Coromandel Plants,’ ii, tab. 184. SS. lanuginosa is pro- 
bably a distinct species, the katu-kapel of Rheede (‘ Hort. Mal.,’ 
vol. xi, tab. 42), which grows on the sands of the Malabar 
coast. All are closely allied to each other, and to the African 
S. guineensis. Of this the fibres have been occasionally intro- 
duced into the markets of Europe, and by some thought supe- 
rior to New Zealand Flax. They have been called African 
Bowstring Hemp. (The author’s ‘ Himal. Bot.,’ p. 391.) 
The Indian species of Sanseviera was first described by Sir 
William Jones, in the ‘Asiatic Researches,’ vol. iv, p. 271, 
under its ancient Sanscrit name of Moorva, and he says, that— 
“ From the leaves of this plant the ancient Hindoos extracted a 
very tough elastic thread called Maurvi, of which they made 
bowstrings ; and which, for that reason, was ordained by Menu 
to form the sacrificial zone of the military class.” Dr. Rox- 
burgh describes the plant as common on the jungly salt soils 
along the coasts, growing under the bushes, and easily propa- 
gated on almost every soil, from the slips which issue in great 
abundance from the roots, requiring little or no care, and not 
requiring to be renewed often, if at all, as the plant is peren- 
nial, The leaves, when thus cultivated, are from three to four 
feet long. The fibre, which extends their whole length, is se- 
parated from the pulpy part of the leaves. The natives place 
them on a smooth board; then press one end of the leaf 
down with one of their great toes, and with a thin bit of hard 
stick held between the two hands, they scrape the leaf from 
them, and very quickly remove every part of the pulp. This 
can also be removed by steeping the leaves in water till the 
pulpy parts rot, &c. 
