PREPARATION OF PLANTAIN FIBRE. 79 
As in the Manilla, so in the common Plantain, the fibre is 
found to be coarse and strong in the outer layers of the sheath- 
ing footstalks, fine and silky in the interior, and of a middling 
quality in the intermediate layers. This fibre is separated by 
the natives of Dacca, for instance, and is used hy them for 
making the string of the bow with which cotton is teazed 
(bowed). Much of it is well adapted for cordage. Mr. 
Leycester (v. supra), when calling attention to the fibre of the 
Musa textilis grown in Calcutta, directed attention to the fibres 
of M. sapientum and of M. ornata, as fitted to answer as string 
for all gardening purposes. Mr. Crawford is of opinion that 
the common Plantain most probably afforded the Indian 
Islanders the principal material for-their clothing, in the same 
way that the indigenous species does in the Philippine Islands. 
The art of making cloth from these fibres seems also to have 
been known in Madagascar. There is no doubt that the large 
cultivated Plantain of India contains a considerable quantity 
of strong fibre, in the same way that the common yellow 
Plantain does in Jamaica. But it seems well worthy of inquiry, 
whether the wild, and at present useless Plantains, growing 
along the foot of the Himalayas and on the Neilgherries, may 
not yield a stronger fibre than any of the cultivated kinds. 
The fibre may be easily separated from any part, by simply 
scraping it ona stone or flat board, with a piece of hard wood ; 
iron, though frequently used, no doubt injures the colour. 
In the following directions given by Dr. Hunter (‘ Art Journal,’ 
Madras, i, pp. 108 and 876) the essentials are attended to, and 
the fibre is separated in an uninjured state, but the process is 
probably not the most economical. 
To prepare the fibres of the Plantain, he rejects the outer, 
withered layer of leaves, aud then strips off the different layers, 
and proceeds to clean them in the shade, if possible soon after 
the plant has been cut down. Lay a leaf-stalk on a long flat 
board, with the inner surface uppermost, scrape the pulp off 
with a blunt piece of hoop-iron fixed in a groove in a long piece 
of wood. When the inner side, which has the thickest layer 
of pulp, has been cleaned, turn over the leaf and scrape the 
back of it. When a good bundle of fibres has been thus par- 
tially cleaned, it ought to be washed briskly in a large quantity 
of water, so as to get rid, as quickly as possible, of all the 
