77° 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
[May I, i8(;4. 
BAMBOU OF THE ORIENT. 
The O- ient is wreathed with batnbo'>. A consider- 
able proportion of the houses in the Ka^t are built of 
bimboo, aud atone sea ot of Iho year m»ny thomands 
of nutivrts arc fad on bsmbao. There is iicthinj} elao I 
should liod BO impcs-iiblc to wipe from my memoried 
picture of the Eibt ax bamboo. It is ibe one chirac- 
teriatio comnioQ to all the East. lRdij;o, rioe, opiuiu, 
tea, coHee, cochiueal, gotns, ^picc^ — they all meati the 
Bast, hut uot one of them ini-ans ihe entire Ea't. 
IJamboo is symbolic of all the Kist. It lifts its grace- 
ful feathery headt aniODg tho c co:iut trees and ciu- 
nnnion trees of Ceylon, it touches with rare beauty 
every few yarda of the Chinese landscape. It breaks 
up into lovely hitu the fiel-ls of India. It grows at 
the b»i-e of the Uionalayap. It softous aj^ain the Bof^, 
fair face of Japa'i It thrives in Bingvpore, it runs 
riot in Teiinng. A.iid wonderfully dt ft ore the various 
nativoa in tlieir use of tho bamboo. Thocinuamon 
ex' el iuiti inanipuUtion. I have come home after 
a Biijourn lu tho East of sonic years, with an ide» that 
tho Chinamen excel in almost everything meohmical 
m which thev have an entirely fair chance. There 
are few thii gs a C hinaman cannot make out of bamboo; 
bou3°c, boxes an<l baskets, foruiture, palinquiLS, 
'rioliKhawp, hats, flbiulds, carriaKe", scaffolding, fencea, 
iiDitf, portieres — tlius'! are a few of its i-itnple.'t uses. 
There is notbiiig else iu tho voijetuble kiniidom at 
once so pliable aud strong as banib o. Thi' tiiigcrsof 
Ohineso childien weave it. Tholia' ds of Indian women 
p'lick it. Yet (rotn it in orade scaffoldirg, upon which 
slaud n multitude of Chinese workmen. Once, ii 
HoDKkon?, I saw the Ohincie prepare for their 
" iSoiil Festival." The "Soul Festivel'' is a unique 
expie'isiOM of tho artistic yearnings of this peculiar 
people. It occurs once in every four yeari". A tem- 
liorary hou*" is built of bamboo. It is lined with 
i-h'lves of bambco; on those thelvos are placed 
pictures, vases, flowers — in brief, anything and 
.ev(^rylhing that marks Ohinese progress io tho fine 
arte. Tho ' Soul Festival" is the Chinefe World's 
Far Hut a World's Fair from which all the world 
IS rigorously excluded except China. There was a 
gre^t. deal about the "Soul Festival" I fawtbat was 
inooniprc honsible to ino. And a Ohiuese niyatery 
is apt to rcrnain a Chinese mystery to the most 
inquiri'ig European. They are not prone to 
ejspiiMii thi lUHclveB lo os. One thing, however, 
was clear lo tue at the "Soul Festival." That one 
thing wan thi> preponderance of bamboo. Not only was 
bamboo an important ingredient of the building aud of 
half tliH fouii-uscful nrlic'e? displayed, but it wai in 
evi !o! ce on fio maj rity of the pottery aud in many 
of the pictures, it wa^ the saving grace of the 
m< at hideous carvings. It gave the utmost touch of 
hfiiMitv to the finest ivories. 
Bimboo is as light as it is Strong. That makes it 
invaluable for r ceptacles that must be carried. I 
used often t" stop in tho streets ef Shanghai to buy 
Chinefc sweetmeats from a "chow-chow seller " who 
h<d a pcrt ible bo Ih or cabinet. I wondered at the 
ease with which he oi>.rried it, until one day I lifted 
it m)self. I*; was inexpre'sibly light. It was made 
of buniboo. The minor Chinese br dges are made of 
bamboo. Very quaint and ettlctive they are. I went 
to a Chinese court of justice. The judges fat upon 
bamboo chairs, sb ut a bambca table. The doors of 
a Chinese prieon are barred with bamboo lattice-work. 
The Bhielde of the Chinese f ( Idiere are made of 
bamboo. Of bamboo are made the flutes of the Chinese 
musicians. The Ohinesc poulterer carries across his 
shoulder a straight bamboo rod and on it are hung 
his feathery wares. The captive song birds of China 
chirp their sad music beinnd the bars of bamboo 
oages. The Chim se woman, who toddles from htr 
window to see your strange, pale European face, leans 
over a bamboo balcony. 
In Bengal I have seen women G&rryiog bundles of 
bamboo three times their own height and quite their 
(iwu circumference. They cut it, the women of the 
coolie class (hard-working class), and carry it for miles 
on their heads. They have a little baud of rags between 
tbeir ekulla and theit tremendous burden*. They bring 
the bamboo to the urarcst village aud stll it lo sone 
bamboo shop. 
Bat it is the piclurertiuo aspect ol ih ' growing bam- 
boo that I would emph size. Except iu Jap lu, •luiost 
all the beauties ef the East nro pos.tivr — a|rgr< 8«iv« in 
color aud in line. Bamboo i-< soft of hue, crairtul, in- 
definite of Outline. It sof Irns and niodificfi m\ny > aiila 
of ludiau fc'nery which witheut it w inld bo crado. I 
remember with genuine gratitude one glorioub S'uaip of 
bamboo iu Jubbulp< rc. It was «o I'clicate in lint and 
shape that It toned to tender half colors the rouf h dyra 
of the garnu-nls of the nativ a who cluiternd about It 
I always made a pyint of intlu ling it iu iny alteritooa 
drive, and many a starlit night I wilkcd coioe dibtauce 
to S'e it outlined, like wonderful ray-jtrecu lace, 
against tfie opilefcent ikj.—Pall Mall Bud<jel. 
PEARLS— PEARL SHELLS— O YSTKRS— 
BECHE DE MER— FI81IEBIK.S ON J HE 
GKEAT BAURIEK REEF OF AU8TUALIA. 
The n-o-t valuable industry or the Gre it K ef i« 
tho pearl-.^hell fishing. Pearls, be it remark, d, are 
only an incident in the pursuit of the iiio'h' r-of-pearl. 
Torres S'nits is the fuhiuai-ground. and ihfl b-at 
pe»rl-sbell known is raised from off th- Nrw G liuea 
coast, at llic depth of twenty fa.homs. The aremg" 
value for the 1 ift live )cir8 of tha i xp' rto<l pear'-sliell 
is stited «t £09,000. The a arch for the sbdl is 
conducted iu lu jgers of ten lous and upward', which 
a'O manned by the diver, the tci der (who manages 
the lifo-lii)c8 and breathing apparatuB), and /our 
pumpiujchands. The wages are good, but the work 
hard. The diver gets £3 for a hundred pairs of 
shell ; and if the yield is six bundr.-d pair* a month, 
he may earn £200 a year. The price obtain' d by the 
sbclliDg-statioDs is £'J(J a ton. ThefO an average 
prices, for the take varies, and the pr ce of the 
best shell is more than double ih" average. Pearl- 
sbell is obtaited also from Western Australia, 
Bombay, Ei<ypt, Zinzibar, Unga, and Mandla— the 
beet of which, twentv years ag >, b fore thei dis- 
covery of the Torres Straits' wealth of shell, sold for 
£400 a ton— rerang, MaciBiar, S'jark'a Bay, Cejion, 
aud Polyeeeia generally. It is the " black-lipped" 
or " Tahiti Black" which produces tho best pearls. 
The oyster and beche-d'.-mer fisheries together 
average about £30, UOO a year, two-thirds of this v» ue 
being fr 'm the beche-de-mc. Too hca '-q<iarier* i.f 
the oyster-fishery are Moreton and Wi.le Bay.-^, qwite 
at the southern end of the Great !{• ef ; imtalllhe 
varieties exist io the tropical wa'crs, iind their trui 
habitats are the corai-islet.s of the Great Rei-f. 
Oysters ore cultivated on variois Burfacc^., fascines, 
split-palings coited with cement, cemen'fd liles, 
&c, ;butthe " spli' -paling" contrivjfnoe is the mot 
convenient a-id succcsful. As yet it has not t e n 
found necessary, such is the fecundity of the Qaseu - 
hnd oyster, the or li ary commercial variety Oitrea 
fflomerata, to dred^'e for the embryo, as is done in 
Europsau waters. A remarkable feature of oyster- 
life is a mangrove bank of oysters, where the 
mo'luics cHng to tis ) roots of the red and white man- 
erove. Oy-ter-cultivatioo seems a remunerative and 
by no means laborious occupitioD, and a healthy one 
too. 
The beche-de-mer belongs to a group called the 
Holothuri'^je, of the class Echinodermati, which 
ii eludes all varieties of " star-fish " and spine-bearing 
sea-urchins— the •' seaslugs " aud " sea-mouse " of out 
coists. Tha French name is derived from the " bicho- 
do-mar" of the Portuguese navigators. The Ohinef e, 
those eaters of expensive soups— witness their" bird's- 
nest soup " — have for ages eaten them. They are 
caught at low-tide by wading. The fish vary from 
eighteen inches to three or four feet, but when boiled 
and dried they shrink to a few inches. The value of 
the dried fi-h is about that of the pearl-shell. The 
fish-supply of the Great Bsrrier Region is varied, tnd 
contains some excellent eatiug-fish. The size of k 30 
lb. mackerel alone is enough to make one's noath 
Water ; and this, the horst-maokeref or king-fist), if 
boiled like a salmou, makes a capital table-fiah. Th* 
