260 
TROPICAL NATURE 
ii 
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 
ways. Generally 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 bare- 
footed 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 round with a sharp 
chopping-lpiife, so that the piece can be unrolled as it were 
and pressed flat, when it forms a hard board with a natural 
surface, which, with a little wear, becomes beautifully smooth 
and polished. Blinds, screens, and mats are formed of bam- 
boos in a variety of ways, — sometimes of thin kinds crushed 
flat and plaited, but more frequently of narrow strips con- 
nected together with cords of bamboo-bark or rattan. Strips 
of bamboo supported on cross-pieces form an excellent bed, 
which from its elasticity supplies the purpose of a mattress as 
well, and only requires a mat laid over it to insure a comfort- 
able night’s repose. Every kind of basket, too, is made of 
bamboo, from the coarsest heavy kinds to such as are fine and 
ornamental. In such countries as Lombock and Macassar, 
where the land is much cultivated and timber scarce, entire 
houses are built of bamboo, — posts, walls, floors, and roofs all 
being constructed of this one material ; and perhaps in no 
other way can so elegant and well-finished a house be built so 
quickly and so cheaply. Almost every kind of furniture is 
also made of the same material, excellent bamboo chairs, sofas, 
and bedsteads being made in the Moluccas, which, for appear- 
ance, combined with cheapness, are probably unsurpassed in 
the world. A chair costs sixpence, and a sofa two shillings. 
Among simpler uses bamboos are admirably adapted for 
water-vessels. Some of the lighter sorts are cut into lengths 
of about five feet, a small hole being knocked through the 
