BAMBOO. 
113 
tains the age of sixty years, and blows but once in 
its life. 
The Bamboo Zelin , a kind inhabiting Java and 
Amboyna, arrives at the height of fifty feet. The 
Malays and the Macassars use the joints for water- 
pipes : they likewise use the wood m constructing 
different parts of their houses, such as the partitions, 
the benches* and the seats. To prepare the bam- 
boo for this purpose, they split the middling-sized 
stems into either four or six laths, which they after- 
wards sew together. The stems, when whole, serve 
for the sides of ladders, for the yards of small ves- 
sels ; and, as we have before said* for water-pipes : 
those of the largest growth are employed for joists 
and beams. The use of so much bamboo, however* 
in the construction of their houses* becomes a se- 
rious evil in case of fire ; for the air contained 
within the hollow parts of the stems becomes rare- 
fied, and bursts from its confinement with a violent 
and dangerous explosion. The natives eat the buds 
and suckers of this and several other varieties of 
bamboo ; they cut about a foot of the young shoot 
from near the top, and, after having macerated it 
in water, they boil it gently, and then dividing it 
into slices, preserve it in vinegar. This, when 
served up with meat, and eaten as cabbage, is rec- 
koned a good antiscorbutic. 
The bamboo which is common over all India, 
and which is of so much service to the inhabitants* 
is the largest of all the varieties of this plant. It 
grows to the height of eighty feet, and measures 
VOL. III. 
i 
