INIEOOÜUTORY ESSAY.
C. palustris, (7, alhis, etc., are made use of entire as cables by the natives of the
Malay Archipelago, Coobia China and neighbouring countries; large cables are aleo
often made of many small canes twisted together; these, which are often of
extraordinary strength and dui-ability, are much employed for native craft suck as Praluis
and Junks. C. pilustris ia much used entire, in Burma, for tying timber in rafts and
making the cables which stretch across tlie liver at the Salween rope statioo
(^Gamble). To the same use are put the entii-e canes of 0. ornatus, wMch are
employed iu Java for moving ferry boats. Usually, however, for many purposes
the rattan canes are split throughout their length into 2-4 or more strips from
which the inner soft brittle and spongy portion is removed by means of a knife or
same other instrument, eo as to leave the external portion, which is hard, tough,
flexible, elastic and has its outer surface very clean and smooth as if it had been
varnished.
The process of cleaning and reducing the canes of Calami into fine strips is
termed by the Malaya raut" and from this word is derived " rautang," whence
Rotang," that is to say the object which it is possible to reduce to strips by the
raut."
The strips vary in width according to the use to which they are to be p a t;
those for delicate work, as for the network of furniture, for small bags, hats,
•etc., are from 1-3 mm. in breadth; those employed as lashings in native housebuilding
er in fastening the removable head of the Malay axe to its handle are
from 5-6 mm. wide.
The natives oiten dye these strips of Rotang red when they desire to give a
more elegant finish, by means of variegated patterns, to their work.*
The canes of some Rotangs are used entire and cut into pieces of appropriate
length to make handles, rods, walking canes and the like. Fur this purpose the
erect and slender stems of the non-scan dent species, such as C. h acularía, are best
suited; but the basal portion of certain of the scandeut ones is sometimes employed.
According to Gamble, C. inermis furnishes in the Sikkim Himalaya the best alpenstocks.
The well-known "Malacca canes" or " Pinang Lawyers" which are largely
exported to Europe are cut from the stems of C. Sdpionum. Their chief merit,
apart from their toughness, their elasticity, and the beauty of their surface, lies ÍQ
the extraordinary length of their internodes, a single one of these being sufficient
to make a very elegant walking cane.
Rattans are a natural product of the primeval forest, Tiiose that reach Europe
are largely exported from Singapore, whence come all those that have been
gathered in the forests of Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, the Malay Peninsula, etc.
The process of collecting and preparing Rattans is very simple. When a Rotang
plant has been found in the forest, the stem is cut near the ground and is detached
from the trees, from whicb it is suspended by its hooked thonga, by taking a strong
hold of its base and thus pulling down the entire plant with its leaves. In order
to clean the plant of its leaves and especially of the spinous sheaths that clothe
•The procesa of dyeing rattan canes red ill tlie Pliilippincs lins been descrilied by Fatlicr Llanos iu til. "Plora de
yüipiuas," tiran Edición, Tot. ÍT; p. 49.
USES AND MAIIVE NAMES. <i»
the stem the top of the plant is out ofl and then, handling it from the upper end,
the stem is forcibly di-awn in the opposite direction between two pieces of wood.
I n this way the stem is easily stripped of its spiny coverings and is then out into
lengths of about 5 moires each. These pieces are bent into two equal parts and
fastened into bundles; in .this state the canes are brought to the market. The Hofang
which are thus prepared, and are most valued by traders, are not thicker than a
man's little finger and have a fine polished straw-yellow glassy surface.
Some of the finest and most slender canes are preserved entire and are put on
t h e market rolled up like coils of thick iron wire.
I have no reliable data as to the tinantity of Rattan canes imported to Europe
from Eastern ports. It is not even known what quantity is produced in each
oountiy. It is however certain that Borneo must supply a very large proportion o(
those that are put on the market, as we find from the Report of the Trade of
Sarawak that from that town alone 27,784 piculs of Rattan were exported during
the year 1899, and .31,200 during 1900, while some years before the supply badbeen
still greater.
With the exception of the Malacca cane it is not exactly known from what
species the rattans of commerce are obtained.
The indigenous names which I have always recorded when they were known
to me may assist to a! certain extent iu the identification of the economic and
commercial specics, but it is a very well-known fact that native names are seldom
to be relied on in a rigorously scientific sense.
Nor must we beHeve that all the species of Calamm produce a serviceable cane; in
not a few of them the stem, though very long and flexible, is soft and brittle and
therefore useless. Among Indian species to whicb this remai-k applies are C. lepto,-
padix and C. Flagellmi. On the other hand, the canes of O. tenuis, 0. Rotmff,
0, fasciiitilans and C. palustris, and in lower India also those of C. psettdoienuis, are
of very good quality and much appreciated. In the Nicobar Wands there is a great
demand on the part of traders for the rattan of C. mcoiai-ieul] 0. Imgiietm is muchused
by the Andamanese, In Java the most useful canes are those of 0. javensis,
C. vimimlk, a. mehnobma, C. Meroidem, and C. Bemwurdtn, especially the two last
which, however, are less esteemed than those imported from Sumatra and Borneo.
I n the Philippines the rattan of G. mollis seems to be one of the most commonly
used.
In the Malayan Peninsula there are certainly many species of Calamvs that
produce valuable canes; but, tbougli the species of that region are comparatively well
known scientifically, we are almost entirely ignorant to which of them the commercial
canes that are brought by the natives fom the forests and sold to traders correspond.
A Oalamm which is termed there " Rotang Segu," and which I have identified with
Blume's C. caesius, corresponds to the "Rotang Segah" of Borneo, also termed in
Sarawak "Rotang Buluch," which is C. eplimm Becc., a very near ally of C. caesitii.
I n Sarawak this is undoubtedly the most esteemed Rotang among all the species
known 1» the Malays; being one- of those that are easily reduced to long strips it
is much used for finer work on account of its. very neat straw-yellow polished
A n n . ROT. BOT. QARD. CALCUTTA Y o i . X I.