128 OBSERVATIONS ON FIBRE OF ENDOGENS. 
duced, calculate upon much higher returns, which, with good 
cultivation and manuring, may, no doubt, be realised. But, :.s 
there is danger in over-crowding, from the want of ventilation, 
and weakness of fibre from the thinness and delicacy of the 
plants which would be produced in a crowded plantation ; it is 
safer to leave to practical experience, to ascertain the degree to 
which a plantation may be safely and profitably crowded. 
It has also been shown that the expenses of producing fibrous 
material in suitable localities, and with appropriate means and 
machinery, ought not to exceed from £9 to £10; and that 
even from India, some of these fibrous productions can be 
landed in England for from £18 4s. to £16 8s. per ton, according 
to difference of quality. While we have been informed by 
competent judges, that most of the above fibres, but especially 
the Plantain and Pine-apple fibre, are worth about £30 to £35 
per ton, if sent in sufficient quantities and in a proper state. 
The difference in value, therefore, would easily repay any extra 
trouble in preparing the fibres in a careful manner, especially 
if we consider how cheaply Jute is grown and prepared, as will 
be shown in the following pages.’ 
* Mr. Dickson (v. p. 133) is of opinion that, though many of the white fibres, as has 
already been noticed, pp. 125-6, are fit only for rope- and twine-makers, others are 
suited for textile purposes, as, for instance, the Pine-apple fibre; even “ for the spin- 
ning of yarn for the fine cambric manufactures in Ireland.” 
The Author has also been informed by one of the best judges of the value of such 
fibres and of their tow, that he has understated the prices which might be obtained 
for them if sent in a clean state to market; but the Author has purposely done so, 
after careful inquiry, that the expectations of planters might not be raised above 
average prices, in order that they might confine the expenses of production within 
proper limits. ‘ 
The Author has omitted to notice, under the head of Plantain products, a piece of 
cloth, five yards and a half in length and twenty-six inches in breadth, sent by the 
Singapore Committee to the Exhibition of 1851. It is described “‘as being manufac- 
tured by the Arafuras, or mountaineers of the remote Eastern island, said to be New 
Guinea, but more probably Ceram, where the aborigines are known to manufacture 
articles from native fibres ;”” and is compared with the cloth made by the Saccalaves 
of Madagascar, from the fibre of a succulent plant called the ‘“ Traveller’s tree,” 
probably a Musa. The above cloth is of whitey-brown colour, like holland. The 
fibres are not twisted, but the ends gummed together, as already related at Pp. 40. 
The cloth is striped across, or in the direction of the woof, with threads of cotton. 
