84 



A NATURALIST IN CELEBES 



CH. xin 



into the patterns, but they are very crude and have but 

 tittle artistic merit. The leaves of the Corypha are also 



sometimes used for 

 making attap roofs. 



j7,,^/. The stem of this 

 ^ v/_ palm provides a hard 



Fig. 34. — Bird-pattern on a Langowan mat. 



and useful wood, and 

 the pith is sometimes 

 used as sago. The 

 native drums — tifa — 

 are almost invariably 

 made from hoUowed- 

 out portions of its stem. The young leaves are sometimes 

 eaten as a vegetable, and a native remedy against dysentery 

 is prepared from the roots. 



For making baskets, water-bowls, and umbrellas the 

 leaves of the woka or lontar palm {Livistonia rotundifoUa) 

 are largely used. 



The cultivation of the wild banana {Musa mindanensis) 

 for Manilla hemp was at one time very considerable in Mina- 

 hassa. In the year 1855 there were, according to Bleeker, 

 over a hundred thousand trees in cultivation ; but of recent 

 years the industry has considerably diminished, so that 

 it is now of little moment. The only place in Minahassa 

 where I saw string being made from this material was in the 

 Bantik village on the northern bank of the Manado river. 



The plants grow well in Minahassa, and produce threads 

 of good length and quality, but unless the capital is forth- 

 coming for the purchase of necessary appliances, the in- 

 dustry must fail in the competition with the large factories 

 in the Philippine Islands. 



The forests of Celebes provide many kinds of hard and 

 valuable woods, a splendid collection of which has been placed 

 in the museum at Haarlem. The most valuable of these 



