112 
BAMBOO. 
them. Owing to this botanical mistake, it has been 
common, both in India and America, to give the 
name of bamboo to all those plants which resemble 
reeds. It is thus that travellers have been led to 
suppose that the genus consists of many species. 
Rumphius, who paid particular attention to these 
plants, has divided them into three classes. In the 
first he comprehends those with a plain and solid 
stem ; that is to say, woody throughout. The se- 
cond includes those which have the figure of a cross 
in the centre of their stems, and a very small ca- 
vity. His third class is formed of bamboos whose 
interior is so open as to form a pipe, and more in 
proportion than the ligneous part. These last are 
by far the most useful. Adanson, following Rum- 
phius, has given in the old Encyclopedic the de- 
scription of twenty-nine varieties of this plant, and 
mentioned their several uses. Of this number we 
shall only mention those which are of use to the 
Indians, either for the composition of their paper, 
the fabrication of their houses and domestic uten- 
sils, or as affording them a portion of their nourish- 
ment. 
Of all the plants that belong to the family of 
grasses, the bamboo is the only one that rises to the 
height of a tree, with a stem of a proportionate 
thickness. This height varies like that of other 
plants, according to the soil and the situation in 
which it is placed. The Bamboo Ily , which is 
found in the sands of Malabar, grows to the height 
of sixty-six feet : it is propagated by suckers ; at- 
