218 
VEGETABLE FIBRE. 
together with a very rudely prepared native 
fabric called gunny (rice) bag, and other 
specimens, from the Heathfield factory at 
Dundee, to the proprietors of which we are 
indebted for these samples. They came, 
accompanied by a note, stating that ' ten years 
ago the use of this fibre was unknown in 
Europe ; but that now it is imported to Great 
Britain to the pecuniary amount of 3OO,O0OZ. 
annually.' A dried specimen of the plant 
itself is placed with the above sample. This 
was raised in our stove from seeds sent by the 
same gentlemen, and is the Corchorus capsu- 
laris of Willdenow. This Corchorus has 
nothing to do with the favourite Japanese 
yellow-flowered shrub, incorrectly called Cor- 
chorus in our gardens, (one of the Rosacea;,) 
but belongs to the natural family of Tiliacece, 
the various genera and species of which 
abound in useful fibre, from the gigantic lime- 
tree (Tilia) to the herbaceous annual here 
noticed. 
" Chinese Grass Cloth. — Under this 
name we have received from Mr. Joseph 
Woods, jun., a very beautiful fabric manufac- 
tured in China, first imported under the form 
of handkerchiefs, and more lately to a con- 
siderable extent as superior to any other kind 
of fabric for shirts. By the kind help of Dr. 
Wallich and Sir George Staunton, we think 
it may be safely asserted that the ' Chinese 
Grass' is the fibre of Boehmeria nivea (Urtica 
nivea, L.), a plant belonging to the Urti- 
caceous (Nettle) family. And here again we 
see how the same tenacity of fibre exists in 
the several members of this vegetable group, 
as exhibited in the common stinging nettle, 
and still more remarkably in the Urtica ca- 
mabina, U. heterophylla, and another species 
of Boehmeria which we have next to speak 
of, namely, the 
" Pooah or Puya fibre of Nepal and 
Sikkim. — For our knowledge and for our 
possession of specimens of this, we are in- 
debted to Dr. Campbell, the Hon. E. I. C.'s 
Political Resident at Darjeeling in Sikkim. 
That gentleman has kindly presented them 
and an interesting pamphlet he has lately pub- 
lished on the subject, to Dr. Hooker, who for- 
warded them to the Royal Gardens' Museum. 
Specimens of the plant prove it to be derived 
from the Boehmeria Puya, Wall. Cat. (Urtica 
frutescens, Roxb. not Thunb.); a species 
botanically very closely allied to the preceding, 
B. nivea. It has been long and extensively 
used in India for various purposes, and when 
properly dressed is said to be quite equal to 
the best European flax ; while it makes better 
sail-cloth than other vegetable fibre produced 
in India. Rope formed of it has been tested 
in the Arsenal and Government dockyards, 
and found perfectly equal to any and all pur- 
poses for which cordage made of Russian 
hemp has hitherto been employed. In pre- 
paring this fibre, however, the natives unfor- 
tunately use mud, which clogs it and renders 
it difficult to spin, and spoils the colour, as is 
evident from the sample sent. Mr. William 
Rownee, superintendent to Capt. A. Thomp- 
son, (whose report on the quality, &c. of this 
fibre is quoted by Dr. Campbell,) observes, 
that, if potash were used in the preparation, 
which is invariably done with Russian hemp 
and flax, instead of mud or clay, the colour 
would be improved, the substance rendered 
easy to dress, and it would not undergo so 
much waste in manufacturing. Now, since 
we can assure these gentlemen, that the plant 
yielding this fibre is a Boehmeria (Urtica 
of Linnasus), so closely allied in botanical 
characters to the ' Chinese Grass* as to be 
identical with it, there can be no doubt, that 
if it underwent the same process of preparation 
and fabrication as is employed by the very 
ingenious artificers of the Celestial Empire, the 
quality would be the same, and it might be 
made to compete with their article in the 
market. Both species are remarkable for the 
pure snowy white down of the under-side of 
the leaves, and for the dense clusters of 
flowers seated upon the stems. 
" Oadal : Fibre of Sterculia villosa. 
— The genus Sterculia belongs to a family 
(Sterculiacece), which, like its near neighbours 
Malvacece on the one hand, and Tiliacece on 
the other, abounds in tenacious fibre. I men- 
tion the ' Oadal' here, though not possessing 
any of it at the Museum, because it finds a 
place in Dr. Campbell's pamphlet above quoted, 
and because it is now for the first time, so far 
as I know, brought to the notice of Europeans. 
This, however, is never manufactured into 
cloth ; its use in India is confined to ropes, 
which, when well prepared, are equal in 
strength to the best Coir. The tree is very 
common in eastern India, and the rope is 
readily made ; for ' the bark, or rather all the 
layers, can be stripped off from the bottom to 
the top of the tree with the greatest facility, 
and fine -pliable ropes may be obtained from 
the inner layers of the bark, whilst the outer 
yields coarse ropes. The rope is very strong 
and lasting : wet does it little injury. It is 
the common rope used by all elephant-hunters 
in the jungles. 
" Fibre of Sterculia guttata, Roxb. — 
From the bark of another species of Sterculia 
(S. guttata, Roxb.), we may here mention that 
cloth is made; and the process is thus de- 
scribed in Roxburgh's Flora. ' The bark of 
this tree the Malabars convert into a flaxy 
substance, of which the natives of the lower 
coasts of Wynaad contrive to make a sort of 
clothing. The tree is felled, the branches 
