PRODUCTIVENESS OF THI PLANTAIN. 69 
country, particularly if this has been long in store here.” Mr. 
Higgs regrets that the Manilla rope is not better laid; and 
observes that Capt. Neish, one of the oldest captains in the 
China trade, was in the habit of bringing the large rope from 
Manilla, and laying it up afresh at Bombay, and tarring the 
yarns ; when it became excellent rope for shrouds. The price 
of Europe rope at the Naval Yard at Trincomalee, was then 
£2 7s, 3d. per ewt., while the price of the Manilla rope 
(without freight) was £1 12s., and it was one fifth lighter than 
Europe rope. The price at which Manilla Hemp was sold in 
England will be mentioned at the end of the following article. 
Prantain Fisre (Musa paradisiaca). 
The Plantain and Banana, though probably only varieties 
of one species, are yet sufficiently distinguished by the size 
and flavour of their. fruit, to be considered familiarly as 
distinct. They are, from their luxuriant-growing and large 
overhanging leaves, considered among the most characteristic 
forms of tropical vegetation. They are also among the most 
valuable of plants, inasmuch as in some countries they supply 
the place of bread, and form the chief nutriment of the people. 
But not only does the Plantain supply the place of bread and 
serve as fruit, but also im a preserved state as dessert. The 
farinaceous parts may, moreover, be separated in the form of 
flour, and are probably as nutritious as rice. The shoots or 
tops of the young plants, both in the East and the West, are 
occasionally given as fodder to sheep and cattle, and are 
described by some as a delicate edible. The leaves, in a 
dried state, are used for thatching and bedding. Both the 
stem and leaves abound in fibre, useful for textile or cordage 
purposes, while the tow which is separated in preparing the 
fibres, forms an excellent material for the finest or the toughest 
kinds of paper. The illustrious Humboldt has long since re- 
marked, that the. Banana is for the torrid zone what the 
Cerealia are for Europe and Western Asia, or rice for Bengal 
and China, forming a valuable cultivation wherever the mean 
temperature of the year is about 75°, He has also calculated 
that the same extent of ground, when planted with the 
Banana, will support a far greater number of people than 
