USES OF BAMBOO. 



57 



together and carried on the back, and they stand very 

 conveniently in a corner of the hut. Water pipes and 

 aqueducts are also readily made from bamboo tubes 

 supported at intervals on two smaller pieces tied cross- 

 wise. In this way a stream of w^ater is often conveyed 

 from some distance to the middle of a village. Measures 

 for rice or palm-wine, drinking-vessels, and water- 

 dippers, are to be found almost ready-made in a joint of 

 bamboo ; and when fitted with a cap or lid they form 

 tobacco or tinder-boxes. Perches for parrots with food 

 and water vessels are easily made out of a single piece 

 of bamboo, while with a little more labour elegant 

 bird-cages are constructed. In Timor a musical instru- 

 ment is formed from a single joint of a large bamboo, 

 by carefully raising seven strips of the hard skin to form 

 strings, which remain attached at both ends and are 

 elevated by small pegs wedged underneath, the strings 

 being prevented from splitting off by a strongly -plaited 

 ring of a similar material bound round each end. An 

 opening cut on one side allows the bamboo to vibrate in 

 musical notes when the harp-like strings are sharply 

 pulled with the fingers. In Java strips of bamboo 

 supported on stretched strings and struck with a small 

 stick produce the higher notes in the ''gamelung" or 

 native band, which consists mainly of sets of gongs and 

 metallic plates of various sizes. Almost all the common 

 Chinese paper is made from the foliage and stems of 

 some species of bamboo, while the young shoots, as they 

 first spring out of the ground, are an excellent vegetable, 

 quite equal to artichokes. Single joints of bamboo make 

 excellent cooking- vessels while on a journey. Kice can 

 be boiled in them to perfection, as well as fish and 



