Sept. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 
THE FIBRES OF COMMERCE. 93 
Indies and Africa, where they are indigenous, and largely cultivated. 
The fibre is called Bowstring hemp, Moorva and Marool in Madras. 
The succulent leaves of these plants grow from three to four feet in 
length, and abound in fibre remarkable for fineness and tenacity. The 
species are readily propagated from suckers and slips, which are pro- 
duced in abundance, and will grow in any soil, with little or no care, 
requiring no removing, as the plants are perennial. The species Angolensis 
has been bnt recently sent to England, and introduced into the West 
Indies from Angola in Africa, where it is extensively used for making 
ropes, being superior to ever} other species of the same genus for that 
purpose. 
The Yuccas are well-known and approved fibre-producing plants, and 
not less so the Hibiscus, or Malvaceous tribe. 
The Pinguin, and all the Bromelia tribe, like the plantain, are peren- 
nials, requiring only one planting in twelve or fifteen years, and 
throwing off two crops of leaves a year. Some of the aloe tribe too, and 
the Aloe variegatur, for instance, yield fibres, not to be excelled, if 
they are equalled by any foreign product. 
The term Pita is a kind of generic name, used very generally in 
Mexico, Central, and South America, for almost all vegetable fibres 
whencesoever obtained, thus the fibre of numerous species of Agave, 
yucca, and other 61amentous plants of the genus Bromelia fall under 
this common denomination. 
The Yuccaaloe Jolia and Y. Jilamentosa afford a very rich silky fibre, 
and assimilate in their growth and other characteristics to the Agave 
species. The leaves of the Bromelia karatas of Mexico and South 
Brazil attain a length of from nine to twelve feet or more, and yield 
a mass of fibre, of about the same length, of great strength, and of a 
silvery whiteness, one-sixth lighter than hemp. In the State of Panama 
the best and whitest rope is made from the fibre of the "Corteza" 
(Aphebia Tibourbon, of Abul) ; a brownish-looking rope, easily affected 
by dampness, probably because the tree from which it is taken has 
saline properties, is manufactured from the " Majagna de playa" (Pa- 
ritium tiliaceum, Adr. Juss.) In Ceylon, this is called Peii. 
This hibiscus-like plant is very common in fences and swampy places 
in Ceylon. They make in Tahiti fine matting of its bark, and also ropes 
and lines, from the size of an inch, to that of a small pack thread, and 
fishing lines. 
The Pachira Barrizon, Seeman, and the Malagueto hembra (Xylopia 
frutescens of Aubl.) in Central America, yield a fibre fit for ropes. 
Seeman, in his "Flora of Panama," states that the hammocks of Veraguas, 
consist of the fibres of the Cobuya, a species of Agave, and those of a 
palm called Chonta. A strong fibre is contained in the leaves of the 
" Pita di Zapateros," a species of Bromelia, which is prepared like flax, 
woven into bags, or " chacaras," by different Indian tribes, and exten- 
sively used by shoemakers for sewing. The fibre surrounding the Cucua, 
