115 
BAMBOO. 
parts. When their king was at war with the 
Dutch in 1651, they fortified themselves by plant- 
ing two parallel rows of these stakes at about 
three feet distance from each other, uniting them 
by hurdles of the same bamboo, and binding the 
whole strongly together. The interval between the 
two rows was filled up with the spiny branches 
mixed with earth and sand : thus they formed a 
wall which was completely cannon-proof. 
The wood of the Bamboo Tuy (a variety com- 
mon enough in the Moluccas) is so very hard, 
that a severe blow with an axe will make it give 
sparks of fire. The joints are covered with rough 
sheaths, like the skin of a shark or dog-fish ; and 
they are used to polish iron, or for other purposes 
of a similar nature. The natives of the Moluccas 
and of Java manufacture the stems of this bamboo 
into flutes, walking-sticks, fishing-rods, tobacco- 
pipes, poisoned arrows, and excellent pikes, or 
hassagays , which they throw with such force as to 
pierce through the body of a man, after the pointed 
end has been gently heated in the fire to give it 
the requisite hardness. Among the different kinds 
of this useful plant may be ranked the Arundo 
scriptoria of G. Bauhin, which, amongst its other 
uses, furnishes the inhabitants with writing-pens. 
The joints of the stem are about six inches long, 
of a fine shining black, and almost entirely ligne- 
ous. With this they inlay their cabinets, their 
escritoires, and other furniture of a similar nature. 
Among the many uses to which the Chinese put 
