Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1884-09-11
VegetahIe Clotll.

-
large pieces of cloth is grown on the
trees. And all that is required in some
cases to obtain cloth is to strip it off,
which is done about as easily as the rind
is peeled from an orange. In other cases
the vegetable fabric needs, to prepare
it for use, only little soaking in water
and beating between two stones.
In the weaving of cloth, as IN most If
not in all our arts. nature has been before
man. In the legend of Arachne we are
given to understand that the art of
weaving was learned from the spider, but
it is much more likely that long before
the Greeks or their ancestors thought of
weaving, they used natures own fabrics;
for we know that they were familiar,
with the inner bark or bast of the lime
tree which they are mentioned in the
Odyssey as using for wrapping and
for tying garlands with. This
bast is easily separable into deli
cate strips, and was at one time used
as a primitive cloth, though now
made principally into mats. The cloth
of the lime tree was in use among the
prehistoric lake-dwellers, so there can
be no question of the antiquity of its
use.
When Congo was first visited by the
white man, the natives marveled at the
clothing worn by. their visitors, and ex-
pressed their astonishment that such
beautiful fabrics could be grown on
trees. Their own cloth was derived from
a sort of mangrove-tTee, called by the
Portuguese enzanda, and what was more
natural tnan that they should fancy that
all cloth should be grown in the same
way9 1t ispossible to imagine the women
of Congo believing that cloth could be
manufactured, ana the men laughing at
them for their credulity.
In the islands of the Pacific very
white and beautiful cloth is made by
wetting the inner bark of the paper
mulberry tree. In the Sandwich islands,
and also in the Feejee and Tonga islands,
the cloth thus made was the finest pro-
durable. though considerable skill was
exhibited by the. native women in the
weaving into cloth Of the fibers of the
cocoanut husk. In Madagascar, too, the
natural cloth preceded the woven stuff,
and in some parts of the island stretched
and beaten bark is now the only cloth in
use. In many parts of the world the
palm tree supplies all the cloth used by
the people. This. however, is coarse
and brown, and not at all comparable to
many of the other vegetable fabrics in
use.
The most remarkable of the vegetable
cloths are to be found in America. So
white in color and so perfect in texture
is one of these that the early voyagers
would not believe, until shown, that it
grew on tree, and was not manufac-
tnred. 1t is taken off in strips of
about two yards square, and
twelve striDs may be had
from one tree. Taken casually into the
hand and examined, nobody would sus-
pect that this delicate fabric was any
thing else than the illusion which is SO
much worn in this country Moreover,
this natural lace may be washed without
sustaining material injury, except in the
loss of its pure wilderness.
The tree lagetto, from which this cloth
is derived, is common in Central America
and the West India islands, and it has
not yet been superseded by the looms of
other countries in the favor of the poorer
classes. The tree is not large one,
being perhaps foot in circumference,
and the inner and outer bark together
are not more than quarterback thick.
The cloth is well packed, however,
though SO conveniently that it is only
necessary to soak the bark in water to
persuade it to yield up its filmy sheets.
When softened, the layers are easily sep
arated with the point Of knife, and NAV
be snapped off with very little care.
Thus one little lagetto tree will furnish
native bride with a complete outfit.
from bridal robe and vail to MOSQUITO
curtains. Indeed, nature has made it
asy enough to live in our tropics, and
has even provided few Injuries such as
money can not secure In our colder lands.
an illustration of this, in Honduras there
IS the cloth which needs only to be
plucked, there is the soap plant which
grows by the stream ready for instant
use, and the bluing plant. which answers
without preparation as we'll as the most
carefully manufactured indigo. And as
for jewels. to say nothing of the opals
which are dear at a cent apiece, there are
the living diamonds, the luminous beetles.
which are in general use by night for
hair ornaments
No doubt it was a study of the laoetto
cloth which led the ancient inhabitants
OF Mexico and Central America to use the
hbers of pineapple. banana. agave and
ether plants for weaving purposes. In
Florida, too, beside the natural cloth
obtained from bark, the natives were
found 10 have 4 rude process Of weaving
vegetable fibers. B0sar