236 DIFFERENT KINDS OF 
the plants, from only local names being usually given by 
travellers. Thus, in the following account given by Capt. 
Biddulph in a letter to the Agri-Horticultural Society of 
India, in the year 1843, he states that, near Darjeeling, 
“the Lepchas make rope from the fibre of the Kullyhain, 
and stout bowstrings and sewing thread from the fibre of 
the Ruffickee tree.” ‘Nothing can be more simple,” Capt. 
Biddulph states, “than their mode of manufacture: the bark 
is torn off the Kullyhain when from five to fifteen years’ 
growth; the inner bark or fibre is then detached, as shown in 
the specimen, washed for a few minutes in water, and when 
dry, pared or pulled into narrow strips, and twisted by the 
hand into rope of any thickness. The bark of the Ruffickee 
is taken off the plant when five or six feet high, and treated 
in the same manner as the former, except that the outer bark 
only requires to be scraped off with a knife. All the Lepcha 
fishing nets are made from the Ruffickee, and are remarkably 
light and strong.” 
Among the Mallow tribe (or Malvacee), and some allied 
families, as we shall afterwards see, there are several other 
instances of the same kind. To the Great Exhibition of 1851, 
specimens of several kinds of Bast were sent, both from Assam 
and from Arracan. Of these, the specimens sent from the 
latter were so promising, that the Author was induced to send 
them for examination and trial to the Horticultural Society’s 
Garden at Chiswick; and as the opinion formed respecting 
them was favorable, he included the information in the fol- 
lowing report : 
“Having been lately much engaged in examining and 
showing to practical men the various fibres which were sent to 
the Great Exhibition of 1851, as well as those which have 
recently arrived from Assam, I was induced to turn my 
attention to the subject of Bast. Of this, large quantities 
are imported into this country, in the form of mats, from 
Russia, chiefly for the use of gardeners, who use them for 
covering pits and frames, or protecting plants, and afterwards, 
when pulled to pieces, for tying up plants and vegetables. The 
mats are also extensively used for packing cabinet-work and 
furniture in general. 
“The subject may appear trifling, but it is calculated that 
