42 TROPICAL NATURE, AND OTHER ESSAYS. 



latter beino: the well-known rattan or cane of which 

 chair-seats are made, from the Malay name ^'rotang/' 

 The rattan-palms are the largest and most remarkable 

 of the climbing group. They are very abundant in the 

 drier equatorial forests, and more than sixty species are 

 known from the Malay Archipelago. The stems (when 

 cleaned from the sheathing leaves and prickles) vary in 

 size from the thickness of a quill to that of the wrist ; 

 and where abundant they render the forest almost im- 

 passable. They lie about the ground coiled and twisted 

 and looped in the most fantastic manner. They hang 

 in festoons from trees and branches, they rise suddenly 

 through mid air up to the top of the forest, or coil 

 loosely over shrubs and in thickets like endless serpents. 

 They must attain an immense age, and apparently 

 have almost unlimited powers of growth, for some are 

 said to have been found which were 600 or even 1000 

 feet long, and if so, they are probably the longest of all 

 vegetable growths. The mode in which such great 

 lengths and tangled convolutions have been attained 

 has already been explained in the general account of 

 woody climbers. From the immense strength of these 

 canes and the facility with which they can be split, they 

 are universally used for cordage in the countries where 

 they grow in preference to any other climbers, and 

 immense quantities are annually exported to all parts of 

 the world. 



Uses of Palm-trees and their Products. — To the 

 natives of the equatorial zone the uses of palms are - 

 both great and various. The fruits of several species — 

 more especially the cocoa-nut of the East and the 

 peach- nut (Guilielma speciosa) of America — furnish 



