MOORVA FIBRE WOVEN INTO CLOTH. 55 
cellent for paper-making. The natives of Bengal twist the fibres 
into a fine thread, upon which they string ornaments to be 
hung round the neck; those of the coast employ them for 
making bowstrings ; and the Rajpoot thread is sometimes made 
of its fibres. They readily take dyes, as was some years ago 
shown by Miss Davy, and specimens dyed red, orange, maroon, 
and green, were sent to the Exhibition by Dr. Hunter. Miss 
Davy, moreover, had some cloth woven with the fibres, after 
some difficulty, but the fibre was still too wiry, from imperfect 
preparation. The weaver, moreover, having neglected to 
separate the coarse from the fine fibres, gave the cloth an 
uneven and irregular appearance. But if the necessary care 
was taken with this, as with all other fibres, there seems no 
reason to doubt that it might be applied to the fabrication of 
fine cloths, in the same way as pine-apple fibre. The fibre has 
been proposed for the packing of steam-engines, and its tow 
used to be, and perhaps still is, converted into very good paper 
at Trichinopoly. 
As the Moorva fibre is employed by the natives for their 
bowstrings, there can be no doubt of its possessing sufficient 
strength for rope-making. In some recent experiments, this 
fibre, in its untwisted state, bore 280 lb., when Agave fibre 
broke with 270 lb. Dr. Wight found some string made of 
the latter, broke with 362 lb., while the Sanseviera broke 
with 3161b., so that these two may be considered as nearly 
equal to each other in strength. 
Attention was called to the fibre of Moorgavie by Mr. A. 
Bond, Master-Attendant at Balasore, who sent to the Marine 
Board of Calcutta some of the fibres preparéd from the leaves 
of plants growing in the jungly salt soils along the coast from 
Kedgeree southward, informing the Board that he had found 
the fibre useful on board the Hon. Company’s schooner Orissa, 
as it answered excellently for running gear. 
On the receipt of the samples, the Board having desired the 
Master-Attendant at Calcutta to submit them to trial, the latter 
reported that it was “not equal in strength to the Europe 
or Manilla hemp, but that it seemed to take hot tar as 
well as the latter, and would answer generally for the same 
purposes as those to which the Europe and Manilla cordage is 
applied.” The following were the results obtained : 
