227 
Fibre from above :—Length very good ; colour good, white ; 
strength poor ; ae imperfect ; similar to China Jute but 
softer ; value per ton, £15 16s. Will sell fairly well. Suggest 
trial 50 tons Be 
(Signed) IDE & CHRISTIE, 
Brokers. 
Musa Ensete.—James Bruce's kp in 1768 to Aida to discover 
the sources of ne Nile, led to the discovery of a f 
remarkable plants, of which ie gave exceedingly end figures, 
though he décitted to accept the views of his botanical friends 
on their affinities. Among them was Musa Ensete, whic 
describes under the name now adopted as specific (and subsequent 
hu as Ansett), and adds: “Some who have seen my drawing 
o s plant, and at the same time found the banana in many 
udis “of the East, have thought the Ensete to be a species of 
Musa. apa how yore I imagine, is without any sort of reason,” 
In 1852, and again in 1853, Mr. Walter Plowden, then H.B.M. 
Consul ne inen atit plants of this Musa to Kew, but they 
r 
Botanical Magazine for January, 1861 (tt. 5223-5224). In five 
years, in one case, in ee in three, these plants attained a 
height of nearly 40 feet to the summit of the fo liage ; the 
blades of the leaves es 17 to 18 feet long. From the 
description in the Botanical Ewa it would appear gar 
ripe fruit and perfect seeds were produced at Kew; but it 
more probable that that part of the doner pega was made From 
the material supplied by Mr. Plowden. At all events the fruit 
is very little known in this country, and it is also a d 
and described in the monograph of the genus. Indee 
we w of no illustration of a fully developed ee and 
Hany all the published figures of the habit and flowers have 
been copied from the Botanical Magazine. But what gave rise to 
this note was an application to Kew from several persons for the 
name of the fruit of a Musa cultivated in the Azores. Only 
and 
certainty. Subsequently, Mr. J. B. Thomas, of le rg 
sent an entire cluster of fruit, from the ‚same sour is i 
teet 
6 inches in circumference, borne on a pedun mid about 6 inches 
in diameter. The weight, after ee a fortnight in a very 
dry chamber, was 20 pounds. The largest of ihe udi lom 
fruits were 3 inches long, and nearly an inch and alf i 
diameter in the thickest part. Very few of them Saai ne 
seeds ; the total number in the cluster being between 500 and 
pericarp is not coriaceous, as it has sometimes been 
described, but tender, soft, watery and tasteless, and in colour and 
d by Bruce himself. 
It is quite uneatable (see H. H. Johnston, aja Exped., 
p.332). On the other hand, it may be mentioned, the interior or 
