of closely analogous character, which have been more or less confounded, but which, from recent information, we are able to distinguish with precision, as well as to add some particulars which we think will be of interest.

All the four products consist of the silky hairs found clothing the rhizome and lower portion of the stalk or stipes. Two of them are of interest for their economic applications, and two for their medicinal properties (real or imaginary). The first is produced in the Sandwich Islands, the second in Madeira, and the others in islands of the Indian Archipelago.

I. Pulu is, as far as at present known, solely the produce of the Sandwich Islands, from whence the first importation, of which we have any record, reached Liverpool about fifteen years ago, and to which, with subsequent importations, Mr. T. C. Archer called attention in the Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. xvi., p. 322.

Three species of Cibotium, viz., C. glaucum, Hook. et Arnott, C. Chamissoi, Kaulf., and C. Menziesii, Hooker, are described as natives of the Sandwich Islands. All these were originally described at different times, each by a different author; and Mr. J. Smith is inclined to believe that if a good observer were resident on the spot, and had time and facilities for examining the various phases exhibited by them in the different places of their growth, age, &c., that the whole would resolve into one species. Be that as it may, all produce Pulu in more or less quantity, according to place and other circumstances.

From a recent Sandwich Islands newspaper, and other sources, I am enabled to add something to the

history of this commercial product. It appears that Pulu has now become an established article of export from that locality. Although its use for pillows, &c., has been known amongst the natives from time immemorial, and a little may have been exported prior to 1851, yet, as an article of trade, it only dates back to that year.

The Custom-House returns of the Hawaiian Islands give the following amount of export in each year :

It is exported principally to San Francisco, though not confined wholly to that port, some being sent to Australia, Vancouver's Island, and other places. Messrs. Harris, the principal dealers in Pulu, became by accident engaged in the trade. In 1854 they had a suit with a storekeeper in Honolulu, and judgment being rendered in their favour, about 800lb. of Pulu was all they could obtain in satisfaction. This material was then worth little or nothing in the market ; they, however, took it, and shipped it to San Francisco, where, after some delay, it realized twenty-eight cents. (14d.) per lb. This circumstance decided them in commencing the trade, and now two-thirds of the exports are supplied by them.

The fern which produces the Pulu grows on all the

high lands, commencing at an elevation of about 1,000 feet, and extending upwards to 4,000 feet. In size it frequently attains to fifteen feet in height. Though found more or less on the five principal islands, the trade in it is chiefly confined to the districts of Hilo, Hamakua, and Puna, in Hawaii. The Pulu is produced around the stalk where the leaf or stem shoots out from the stock of the fern, and only a small quantity is found on each plant, amounting in weight to about two or three ounces. It takes about four years for a plant to produce this amount.

Owing to the large quantities collected of late years, the article is becoming scarce in the Hilo district, though in the Hamakua and Puna districts large quantities still remain. But as it is farther for the natives to go to obtain it, and as more expense and fatigue are encountered, the cost is gradually advancing, and the probability is that it will continue to advance each year to the extent of a cent per lb. The number of persons engaged in gathering Pulu varies including men, women, and children, probably from two to three thousand are now dependent on it for a livelihood, receiving generally from five to six cents per lb. on delivery. The labour of gathering Pulu is very tedious and slow. When picked, it is wet, and has to be laid out to dry on the rocks or on mats. In favourable weather it will dry in a day or two, but generally in the Pulu region wet and rainy days prevail, so that frequently the natives do not get their Pulu dry after several weeks, often taking it to market in too wet a state. The dealers have constantly to contend with this inclination of the natives to sell wet Pulu, as it

makes considerable difference in the weight when dry. The facilities for drying, packing, and shipping, are improving every year, and the article now shipped is generally dry and in good order, closely packed in wool bales. The trade is reduced to a system, and though there is no probability of any great increase, it will doubtless continue a staple export.

II. This product, of which no local name has come to our knowledge, has long been known and used in Madeira for stuffing cushions, &c. It is the product of Balantium culcita, Kaulf., a fern found in Madeira, Teneriffe, and the Azores, and also in Jamaica and New Granada. The silky hairs of this species bear a great resemblance to those of the various species of Cibotium. We are not aware of any exportation of this substance, nor the extent to which it is collected. In the island of Fayal, one of the Azores, Dicksonia arborescens, L'Herit., grows round the margin of a lake in such profusion, that the silky down of its stems is used by the principal inhabitants as stuffing for their mattresses.* Trunks of the Dicksonia and other tree ferns from Tasmania were shown at the Exhibition of 1862.

FIBROUS SUBSTANCES.

TECUM, or Tucum fibre, ist he native Indian name for the produce of a palm-leaf resembling green wool, imported into Liverpool from Brazil. This fibre is

*The Cibotium Schiedei, Schlecht. et Cham., of Mexico, and Thyrsopteris elegans, a native of Juan Fernandez, also produce similar silky hairs.

obtained from the Astrocaryum vulgare of Martius. From its unexpanded leaves the natives manufacture cordage, bow-strings, fishing-nets, hats, fans, beautifully fine hammocks, and other articles where fineness combined with strength is required.

The fibrous outer covering, or husk, of the cocoanut, when macerated or prepared, is termed "coir," and is twisted into yarn and spun into rope. This product is extensively shipped from Ceylon, in the various forms of coils of rope and hawsers, bundles of yarn, and pieces of junk and loose fibre. The value of this export averages about £30,000 from Ceylon. Twenty years ago it was not a fourth of this amount. Large quantities are imported into this country as dunnage" in ships; and the husk is collected from the fruiterers and itinerant vendors and sold for spinning.

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Coir is the fibrous rind of the nuts, with which the latter are thickly covered. There are several ways of stripping the fibres from the husk. One is, by placing a stake or iron spike in the ground, and by striking the nut on the point, the rind is easily separated from the shell. The husks are first separated from the nuts, and then placed in salt or brackish water for about twelve or eighteen months; they are then scraped and cleaned for use. There exists, however, no necessity for steeping the husks so long in water, it having been found that a shorter time is sufficient for the purpose. On the coast of America, when a running stream of water is not near at hand, the coir manufacturers dig holes in the sand below high-water mark, and bury the rind of the cocoa-nut before beating it. Subse

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