BANANA TREE. 
281 
duced M. Badier of Guadaloupe to suggest two 
methods of drying it, which he has described as 
being calculated to succeed very well. 
The leaves of the banana, as well as the fruit, are 
of service to the inhabitants of the Indies ; and 
amongst the varieties of the plant which are there 
cultivated, that called the hog-banana is particularly 
useful. The natives of the Molucca Islands make 
the leaves of this kind serve for napkins and table- 
cloths ; they likewise polish them, when dry, so as 
to give them the appearance of a fine brown paper ; 
and it is with these leaves that they make the little 
rollers in which they wrap up their tobacco. But 
they apply them to a still better purpose ; for they 
contrive to write their letters upon this brittle paper, 
which of course cannot be lasting. The heart of 
the flower-stalks of this sort of banana is cut in 
pieces, and given to the hogs. 
There is another variety of singular service to 
the inhabitants of some parts of India, since they 
contrive to draw a thread from the base of the 
leaves, of which they make two sorts of cloth, of a 
yellowish colour, and nearly as good as that from 
raw hemp. The most common sort they make 
into clothing, after it has been dyed black, red, or 
yellow : the other, which is of a fine texture, and 
shines like silk, they either dye black, or paint 
with a variety of figures of animals and flowers; and 
thus make an elegant covering for their beds or 
sofas. From the exterior and filamentous part of 
the plant they get their cordage and cables ; and it 
