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Philippine Journal of Science 
191S 
strength and is actually stronger than machine-laid abaca rope 
made of “F” grade fiber. 
All test specimens of both the five dry, and the five wet, 
specimens, excepting one in the latter, ruptured outside of eye- 
splices. The maximum variation from the mean tensile strength 
of the dry specimen values was 29 per cent, and that of the 
wet specimens was only 11 per cent. Wetting not only greatly 
increases, but improves, their uniformity. 
Rope made of Gnetum sp. bast is held in high esteem by 
Filipinos because of its great strength, pliability, and lightness, 
and is considered by Igorots and Ilocanos in Benguet, Abra, 
and Union superior to that made of any other local fiber. It 
is preferred for making wild-hog traps and for mounting seines 
and for trawl fishing. Fiber for these purposes is subjected 
to severe exposure and treatment and must be durable and re- 
liable. When used for mounting nets and for fishing lines the 
bast meets with extraordinarily hard usage. It is customary 
to stretch a rope from one bank of a river to the other, and at 
regular intervals to suspend short lines to which hooks are 
attached. The rope of course is submerged, and frequently con- 
siderable debris becomes lodged against it. More than one 
instance is on record in which a man was saved from being 
washed away by grasping such a rope, of about the size of a 
lead pencil. 
A summary of the tests of this species made in the Bureau 
of Science is given in Table XXXVI. 
Table XXXVI . — Physical tests of rope made from the bast of Gnetum sp. 
[Eope made at Disdis, Benguet Subprovince.] 
Mean diameter: 
Millimeters 
5.7 
Inches 
0.23 
Mean perimeter, or girth: 
Millimeters 
18 
Inches 
0.71 
True mean sectional area: 
Square millimeters 
21.5 
Square inches 
0.033 
Ultimate tensile strength (dry) : 
Mean in kilograms 
166 
Maximum in kilograms 
214 
Minimum in kilograms 
142 
Mean in pounds 
366 
Maximum in pounds 
471 
Minimum in pounds 
312 
