USES OF BAMBOO. 



55 



pegs, which, are bound together and supported by the 

 upright bamboo, this ladder is much safer that it looks 

 at first sight, and it is made with wonderful rapidity. 

 When a path goes up a steep hill over smooth ground, 

 bamboo steps are often laid down to prevent slipping 

 while carrying heavy loads. These are made with 

 uniform lengths of stout bamboo in which opposite 

 notches are cut at each end just within a joint. These 

 notches allow strong bamboo pegs to be driven 

 through into the ground, thus keeping the steps securely 

 in place. The masts and yards of native vessels are 

 almost always formed of bamboo, as it combines light- 

 ness, strength, and elasticity in an unequalled degree. 

 Two or three large bamboos also form the best outriggers 

 to canoes on account of their great buoyancy. They 

 also serve to form rafts ; and in the city of Palembang 

 in Sumatra there is a complete street of floating houses 

 supported on rafts formed of huge bundles of bamboos. 

 Bridges across streams or to carry footpaths along the 

 face of precipices are constructed by the Dyaks of 

 Borneo wholly of bamboos, and some of these are very 

 ingeniously hung from overhanging trees by diagonal 

 rods of bamboo, so as to form true suspension bridges. 

 The flooring of Malay houses is almost always of 

 bamboo, but is constructed in a variety of w^ays. Gene- 

 rally large bamboos are used, split lengthways twice and 

 the pieces tied down with rattan. This forms a grated 

 floor, slightly elastic, and very pleasant to the barefooted 

 natives. A superior floor is sometimes formed of slabs, 

 which are made from very stout bamboos cut into 

 lengths of about three or four feet and split down one 

 side. The joints are then deeply and closely notched all 



