472 



THE PLANTAIN AND BANANA. 



Machines have been invented to remove the fibre from the pulp, 

 but few are used. One was exhibited at Manila, about three years 

 ago, very simple in its construction- and apparently producing results 

 vastly superior to the ordinary mode I have described of manual 

 labour. The exhibition of this machine produced a great excitement, 

 and it was proposed and countenanced by the Captain-general to give 

 a large premium to the inventor. The subject died away, however, 

 and the machine disappeared from public view. It is probable that the 

 criticisms of experienced people formed some drawbacks to the per- 

 fection generally ascribed to the invention ; but, without possessing 

 the slightest mechanical knowledge, the impression which its structure 

 and effect made on persons capable of judging, was extremely favour- 

 able. There was no intricacy in its machinery ; wood was its only 

 material and a buffalo its moving power ; a village carpenter could 

 make one from its model, and its results were tenfold or more greater 

 than by the ordinary course. It may suggest itself, why has it 

 then not become of general use ? I cannot affirm that the model 

 has not been applied; but there are circumstances or influences 

 in regard to the natives here, and the culture of this production, 

 and indeed of all others, unfavourable to the extensive adoption of 

 machinery. 



Exports of Manila hemp from the Philippines 



Piculs. Piculs. 



1850 124,367 1874 616,122 



1872 613,240 1875 519,392 



1873 628,066 



From Cebu the exports were in 



Piculs. I Piculs. 

 1874 234,361 1875 154,922 



The best fibre comos from the latitudes south of Manila, and from 

 several islands as far as the tenth degree. 



Of the 250,000 bales received at Manila in 1864, about 129,000 

 were shipped to the United States and California, 114,000 to Great 

 Britain, and the remainder to the British possessions and settlements 

 in Australia, India, China, &c. 



The exports from the port of Cebu in 1874 were 154,922 piculs, of 

 which upwards of 91,000 went to America. The total exported from 

 the Philippines was 616,122 piculs against 628,066 piculs in 1873. 

 Great Britain takes about one-third, 233,000 piculs. 



The manufacture of cloth and rope from the fibre of the plantain is 

 not a new discovery, for the Indian natives of South America have 

 long been in the habit of using it for these purposes. Damj^ier 

 notices the process as common in the Indian archipelago in the early 

 part of the last century, as follows : " They take the body of the tree, 

 clear it of its outward bark and leaves, cut it into four quarters, 

 which, put into the sun, the moisture exhales ; they then take hold of 

 the threads and draw them out ; they are as big as brown thread. Of 

 this they make cloth in Mindanao, called saggera, which is stubborn 

 when new, wears out soon, and when wet it is slimy." 



