578 Philippine Journal of Science i9i9 
Table V . — Breaking lengths of Philippine handmade bast-fiber ropes and 
miscellaneous, etc. — ^Continued. 
ROPES MADE OF MISCELLANEOUS FIBERS. 
No. 
Fiber. 
Mean breaking 
length. 
Meters. 
Feet. 
1 
Musa textilis; grade “F” abacd; rope, 31 mm. in circumference » 
12,300 
40, 400 
2 
Musa textilis; grade “F” abacd; rope, 15 mm. in circumferences 
11, 900 
39,000 
3 
Musa textilis; grade "G” abacd; rope, 16 mm. in circumference* 
10,200 
33,300 
4 
Agave cantala; maguey; grade, Cebu No. 2* 
9,350 
30,700 
6 
Musa textilis; grade "G” abacd; rope, 26 mm. in circumference* 
8,390 
27, 500 
6 
5, 530 
18, 160 
7 
Dendrocalamus merrillianus b j. 
3,800 
12, 460 
8 
Corypha elata; buntal 
3, 700 
12, 100 
9 
Cocos nucifera; rope. 24 mm. in circumference 
3, 550 
11, 650 
10 
3, 200 
10. 600 
11 
Cocos nucifera: rope, 44 mm. in circumference d 
2,730 
8,960 
12 
Cocos nucifera: rope, 50 mm. in circumference © 
2,620 
8,610 
“ Machine-made rope ; all other ropes are handmade. 
•> This rope has two strands only ; all other ropes have three strands. 
' Rope made of the entire stem of the vine. 
Rope made of coir that had been machine cleaned at the Bureau of Science from Laguna 
husks. 
• Rope made at Caoayan, Ilocos Sur, from salt-water retted coir. 
In Table V ropes made of Philippine fibers are arranged in 
two groups. 
The first group is devoted to handmade bast-fiber ropes and 
the second to hand- and machine-made ropes of miscellaneous 
fibers. The order of succession is not always the same, as will 
be seen by a comparison of the relative positions given to the 
various fibers in Tables IV and V ; in the latter they are listed 
in the order of their breaking length, while in the former they 
are tabulated in the order of their dry tensile strength per unit 
area. The tensile strength per unit area does not take into 
consideration the actual weight of the fiber, and the two series 
must necessarily vary whenever there is a variation in the spe- 
cific gravity of the materials. Rope made of the fiber of Helic- 
teres hirsuta ranks ninth in tensile strength, but twenty-second 
when classified as to its breaking length. This irregularity is 
readily comprehended by reference to Table XLII, which shows 
that the rope made of this fiber is one of the heaviest tested. 
Moisture . — Three pieces, each about 20 centimeters long, were 
cut from three different places in each coil of rope, and the 
samples were dried to constant weight at a temperature of 
103° C. in a Freas electric oven. The dry weight was taken as 
the basis on which to compute the percentage of moisture. The 
