100 COMMON WALKING CANE. RATTAN CANE. 
spears ; and the inner part of the young shoots is boiled 
or roasted for food. 
111. The COMMON WALKING CANES (Calamus 
scipiorium) have a smooth and glossy stem, usually marked 
with dark spots : and the knots or joints are sometimes three 
or four feet asunder. 
These canes grow, very abundantly, in Sumatra and 
other Eastern islands, as well as on the continent of 
India, whence they appear to have been originally ex- 
ported to Europe by the Dutch. There is a consider- 
able trade in them to China. The long spaces be- 
tween the knots, their shining surface, and lightness, 
have rendered them preferable to most other articles 
for walking canes. 
112. The RATTAN, or TRUE CANE (Calamus verus), 
is remarkable for growing to the great length of a hundred 
feet and upwards, and, at the same time, not being thicker 
than a mansjinger. 
A trade in rattans to considerable extent is carried 
on from several of the islands of the east to China, 
which is the principal market for them. These canes 
are extremely tough and flexible, of yellowish brown 
colour, and, when cut into thongs, are sometimes used 
to make cables and other ropes. Our cane-bottomed 
chairs are made of split rattans, the outer or smooth 
surface of which is always kept uppermost. For this 
work the canes are chosen by their great length, pale 
yellow colour, and bright gloss. They are purchased 
in bundles, each of which contains a hundred canes, 
neatly tied in the middle, and the ends bent together. 
When perfectly dry, they are so hard as to yield sparks 
of fire when struck against each other. The word rattan, 
in the Malay language, signifies a staff or walking stick. 
113. The BAMBOO CANE (Bambusa arundinacea) has 
a hollow, round, straight, and shining stem; and sometimes 
grows to the length of forty feet and upwards : it has knots at 
the distance of ten or twelve inches from each other t with thick. 
