622 
Philippine Journal of Science 
1919 
first cut, or rather torn, into three ribbons, which are then 
tightly twisted, separately, to form the strands of a rope. These 
strands are then fastened in the crude wooden rope-laying ap- 
paratus shown in Plate I, fig. 1, and laid into rope. This sample 
of rope was just long enough to make one tensile-strength test, 
the results of which are recorded in Table XXIX. 
The rope possesses little flexibility, and a piece 20 centi- 
meters long held horizontally was not deformed by flexion; 
ordinary ropes of this size under similar conditions would 
show appreciable deflection. Plate VIII, fig. 4, shows that 
each strand is made of only one very rough strip of bast; 
it averages 1.68 millimeters thick and 18 millimeters wide. 
In sharp contrast to this sample of hard dark bast is that 
illustrated in Plate IV, fig. 8, which was obtained from a 
young tree in Dolores, Abra Province, in 1917. It is of a 
salmon-buff color, is soft, and makes a rope that is pliable and 
far more uniform than that made of the chestnut-colored bast. 
The strands are from four to eleven bast strips thick; the lat- 
ter vaiy in width from 1 to 4 millimeters, in thickness from 
0.13 to 0.66 millimeter, and have a mean length of 610 milli- 
meters. It will be noticed that the bast strips are compara- 
tively short. When dry the rope made of the two basts is low 
in tensile strength and breaking length, although that from 
the old lignified bast is slightly stronger than that made of the 
young bast. The maximum variations from the mean tensile 
strength of the dry and the wet specimens of the young bast 
were 20 and 16 per cent, respectively. Three specimens in each 
series of five ruptured in an eye-splice. Wetting has little in- 
fluence on the tenacity of the bast and causes a decrease in the 
mean tensile strength of only 2 per cent. 
Filipinos emphasize the durability of rope made of Artocar- 
pus communis, particularly that made of the old bast. It is 
said to withstand prolonged wetting and to give good service 
even when wetted and dried alternately. The rope is princi- 
pally used in the form of traces, to yoke carabaos for field work. 
This service is severe; for, in addition to being alternately wet 
and dry, the rope is subjected to abrasion by being dragged in 
the gritty earth. The Ilocanos of Sappaac believe that old bast 
is more durable than rawhide. 
A summary of the tests of this species made in the Bureau 
of Science is given in Table XXIX. 
