CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 377 
toughness. The fibres may be woven into fabrics of different 
qualities; and though they may not be well fitted for making 
knots, they may yet be twisted into ropes which are capable of 
bearing considerable strains, and possess the advantage in their 
white colour, of not being likely to deceive the purchaser by a 
semblance to Hemp. So if we require a fibre which shall 
unite with strength the property of being almost indestructible 
under water, we have only to employ the black horsehair-like 
fibres of the Ejoo or Sago Palm, which has also all the lightness 
of the Coir of the Cocoa-nut.! 
“Among the Malvaceous and Leguminous plants, or those 
among which the Brown Hemp, the Dhunchee, and Sunn of 
India are found, with the Jute among the Linden tribe, we 
have a variety of cheap products, because the plants can be 
grown with ease, and their fibres separated with facility. The 
supply may, moreover, be indefinitely and rapidly expanded, 
because they form a part of the ordinary culture. Though 
these do not possess all the strength, they have the colour of 
Hemp, which I am told is an advantage; and they are ad- 
mirably adapted for many coarse fabrics, as well as for cord- 
age for ordinary purposes. Many of them also are edible, like 
the Okhro of the West Indies and the Ram turai of India ; 
and, therefore, we may, as in the case of the Plantain, be multi- 
plying the supply of food for the body, at the same time that we 
are increasing the means for diffusing information for the mind.” 
[Though numerous attempts have been made to produce 
merchantable Flax in India and without much success, chiefly 
from inattention to physical desiderata, I believe there is at 
present a very favorable prospect of getting some good Flax 
' Since the articles on Moorva, Pine-apple, Manilla Hemp, and Plantain were 
written, the Author has received specimens from Bombay, from Dr. Gibson, of cord 
made from the first, under his direction, who states that the plant is abundant 
on that side of India, and yields one of their strongest fibres. Dr. Oxley, at 
Singapore, writes that thousands of acres of Pine-apple plant cover the adjacent 
islands; so that the supply might be considered inexhaustible, of a fibre remarkable 
as well for fineness as for strength; and also, that the Musa tewrtilis of Manilla grows 
freely there, and would thrive well in the low lands, if these were drained. Dr. Hunter, 
of Madras, has stated that Plantain fibre has begun to be exported from the West 
or Malabar coast of India. Indeed, several of the fibres mentioned in the above 
Lecture and in this work have been imported during the year into this country; or 
have been sent as specimens, from new sources. 
