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14 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



of the country: and the .ancient Chaldeans, or Babylonians, are said to 

 have used this palm for everything- — food, clothing, wine, and the timber 

 for their habitations. There is plenty of evidence that palm liber was 

 employed throughout this entire region of the ancient world. 



Pliny tells ns that even the papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) was used for 

 cordage in Egypt, as well as for matting, curtains, and sails, and 

 Warden says that small boats were sometimes made from the plant. 

 Ancient vessels of bulrushes are mentioned by Isaiah, and Lucan alludes 

 to the manner of binding and sewing them with papyrns. The use of 

 papyrus for paper is even more interesting. (See description of the 

 mode of preparation under the title Cyperus papyrus in the catalogue.) 

 In the realm of rank aquatic vegetation we may note a reed known as 

 Arundo donax, which has been regarded as the " reed " of the Scrip- 

 tures: U A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall 

 he not quench." (The Hebrews employed flax for their lamp wicks.) 

 Dr. Moore tells us that the heroes of Homer made their arrows of the 

 Arundo (Iliad XI), and that the tent of Achilles was thatched with its 

 leaves. A coarse grass (fijpartium junceum) has been used in Italy as a 

 fiber plant from ancient times, its Italian name being Ginestra de Spagna. 

 It is mentioned by Pliny. It was also largely used by the Greeks and 

 Romans for many purposes. Another ancient Egyptian liber grass is 

 known as Terr" (Poa abyssinica), said to have been the "straw" that 

 was used by the ancient Egyptians in brickmaking. The ancients 

 were also familiar with the use of flexible twigs for tying material, the 

 name viburna being used for such substances. Twigs of Viburnum 

 cassinoides are used for such purposes in the present age. 



In the Western Hemisphere the fiber of two species at least of Agave 

 were employed by the ancient Mexicans or Aztecs, together with palm 

 fiber and very coarse cotton, as clothing for the poorer classes. Cloth 

 from the Agave was called nequen, and today the Yucatan name of the 

 commercial sisal hemp, or Agave rigida, is henequen. This may have 

 been one of the ancient Mexican species, but as the history of their civ- 

 ilization was grotesquely recorded by the use of ideographic paintings, 

 and not by means of written language upon books or scrolls, such fine 

 distinctions as botanical species are not possible. Agave liber was also 

 used to a limited extent by the ancient Peruvians, though wool and cot- 

 ton were held in first esteem. In the burial mounds of the south- 

 western United States the remains of fibers are frequently found, Agave 

 and Yueea fiber being common. Remains of bast fibers are also found, 

 but they have not been identified. 



The subject is interesting, but it is not possible, on these pages, to 

 give more than an outline, chiefly for the purpose of showing that the 

 mosl valued of the commercial libers of to-day were among the useful 

 fiber species of the ancient world. 



