a bombao jungle on fire. There was a great deal of noise

40
Hosséus,
Botan, u. kolonialwirtsch. Studien über die
Bambusstaude.
a bombao jungle on fire. There was a great deal of noise comparable
to musketry; but the bamboo were not of the large kind here
spoken of." The Hon. Robert Lindsay describing his elephantcatching in Silhet, says: „ A t night each man lights a fire at his
post and furnished himself with a dozen joints of the large bamboo,
one of which he occasionally throws into the fire, and the air it
contains being b y the heat, it explodes with a report as loud as a
musket" (Lives of Lindsays III p . 191).
Die Bedeutung der Bambusstaude im Wirtschaftsleben der Völker.
Für die Bedeutung der Bambusstaude im Wirtschaftsleben
der Völker möchte ich einem der tüchtigsten Forscher W a l l a c e )
in seiner Muttersprache das Wort geben:
„Düring my many journeys in Borneo, and especially during
my various residences among the Dyaks. I first came to appreciate
the admirable qualities of the Bamboo. In those parts of South
America which I had previously visited, these gigantic grasses
were comparatively scarce; and where found but little used,
their place being taken as to one class of uses b y the great variety
of Palms, and as to another b y calabashes and gourds. Almost
all tropical countries produce Bamboos, and wherever they are
found in abundance the natives apply them to a variety of uses.
Their strength, hightness, smoothness, straightness, roundness
and hollowness, the facility and regularity with which they can
be split, their many different sizes, the varying length of their
joints, the ease with which they can be cut and with which holes
can be made through them, their hardness outside, their freedom
from any pronounced taste or smell, their great abundance, and
the rapidity of their growth and increase, are all qualities which
render them useful for a hundred different purposes, to sewe
which other materials would require much more labour and pre­
paration. The bamboo is one of the most wonderful and most
beautiful productions of the tropics, and one of natures most
valuable gifts to un civilized man" usw.
Während meines Aufenthaltes in den K e w
Gardens
bei L o n d o n ) 1911 bearbeitete ich auch das gesamte Material
in den Museen, das mit dem Wirtschaftsleben der Völker und den
Bambusstauden zusammenhängt. Ich gebe hier die Beschreibung
der einzelnen Stücke in Kew, nachdem ich bereits einen Teil über
die H ü t e ) publiziert habe.
1
2
3
Kleidungsstücke.
Bei den C h i n e s e n finden wir als häufiges Kleidungs­
stück, vor allem von den Kulis getragen, Bambus - H e m d e n .
Wenn es sehr heiß ist, da sieht man diese oft als einzige Bekleidung
J
) W a l l a c e , The Malay Archipelago. I. pp. 120—126.
) Auch an dieser Stelle sei den Herren der Kew Museen, vor allem LeutnantColonel D. P r a i n , mein verbindlichster Dank ausgesprochen.
') H o s s é u s , C. C. , Hüte aus Pflanzenstoffen.
(Beih. Bot. Centralbl.
1912. pp. 79—87.)
2