164 



RATTAXS AXD THEIR USES. 



Eungeet, at a most wild and beautiful spot, I saw," says the enterprising 

 traveller, "for the first time, one of the most characteristic of Himalayan 

 works of art — a cane, bridge. ... A fig-tree, projecting oyer the 

 stream, growing out of a mass of rocks, its roots interlaced and grasping at 

 every available support, formed one pier for the canes ; that on the oppo- 

 site bank was constructed of strong piles, propped with large stones ; and 

 between them swung the bridge, about eighty yards long, ever rocking 

 over the torrent (forty feet below). The lightness and extreme simplicity 

 of its structure were very remarkable. Two parallel canes, on the same 

 horizontal plane, were stretched across the stream ; from them others hung 

 in loops, and along the loops were laid one or two bamboo stems for floor- 

 ing ; cross pieces below this flooring hung from the two upper canes, which 

 they thus served to keep apart. The traveller grasps one of the canes in 

 either hand, and walks along the loose bamboos laid on the swinging loops : 

 the motion is great, and the rattling of the loose, dry bamboos is neither a 

 musical sound, nor one calculated to inspire confidence, the whole structure 

 seeming as if about to break down. With shoes it is not easy to walk, and 

 even with bare feet it is often difficult, there being frequently but one 

 bamboo, which, if the fastening is loose, tilts up, leaving the pedestrian 

 suspended over the torrent by the slender canes. When properly and 

 strongly made, with good fastenings, and a floor of bamboos laid trans- 

 versely, these bridges are easy to cross. The canes are procured from a 

 species of Calamus; they are as thick as the finger, and twenty or thirty 

 yards long, knotted together, and the other pieces are fastened to them by 

 strips of the same plant. A Lepcha, carrying 140 lbs. on his back, crosses 

 without hesitation, slowly but steadily, and with perfect confidence." 



Rattans form a very important article of trade in Singapore, Penang, 

 and Batavia, where large quantities are sold for the Chinese ports. In the 

 half-yearly report of the return of the trade of Shanghai, for the first six 

 months of 1860, we find in the imports 4,365 piculs of rattans, and 98 piculs 

 of rattan ware. This would be equivalent to about 104,760 bundles annually 

 for that port alone, exclusive of the numerous others with which trade is 

 carried on. The Chinese apply them to a great number of purposes, 

 especially for cordage ; and they are also split into various strips and sent 

 to England, where they find a ready sale. Door mats are made of them by 

 the Chinese ; chairs, baskets, and beds ; and they build houses or sheds in 

 the south of China of them, for about five dollars each house. 



Within the last three years the Americans have been very large buyers 

 of rattans, and one vessel carried nearly 500 tons to New York — I believe, 

 principally for stiffening ladies' petticoats or crinoline hoops. The most 

 important uses that they have been applied to in England are for caning 

 chair bottoms and gigs, whips, stays, stiffening bonnets, boys' caps, for 

 crinoline petticoats, dyed for the ribs of umbrellas, sold in sets of eight ; 

 for saddles, and for skips or large baskets. The writer having suggested to 

 Messrs. G. W. Reynolds and Co., of Birmingham, that these canes might 

 be advantageously used for the manufacture of the wicker work baskets 



