DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 



279 



ter and line maker. It is this fiber which, is known in the European market as 

 "African bass," and there is no apparent reason why, with a population who are in 

 the habit of preparing it, and a source of supply which may be regarded as practi- 

 cally unlimited, we should not be able to compete on even terms with the sources of 

 supply which at present monopolize the market. {Alfred Molony, governor of Lagos.) 

 Other species. — B. IwoJceri is the Ukot of Old Calabar, where it is cultivated as a 

 wine palm. The natives also manufacture cloth from the epidermis of the leaflets. 

 On the Skerboro, in Sierra Leone, they make hammocks from it, as well as all sorts 

 of basket work, mats, etc. This is one of the largest of the Bajphias, the whole plant 

 often attaining a height of 70 feet. The fronds are 40 feet long, with leaflets 4 to 5 

 feet long. If in other respects suitable, this should yield Baffin fiber as long as the 



Fig. 94.— A plant of Bavenala. 



best from Madagascar. (Kew Bull., 1895.) B. welivitscliii is a new species from 

 Angola. The natives manufacture the epidermis from the leaflets into cloths, etc. 

 B. textilis, a closely allied species, also yields textile filaments. 



Rat (Ceyl.) = red. 



Rataroa. New Zealand flax. See PJiormium. 

 Rattan cane (Ceyl.). See Calamus rotang. 

 Ravenala guyanensis. 



Endogen. Musacece. Giant wild plantain. (Fig. 94.; 

 Known by the French as Traveler's tree, as it stores up water in the large cup-like 



