rom which proceed successively thirty shoots,
and each shoot ought not to have more than one spike, or bunch; it
is then cut fronting the sun, and as all the shoots rising from the
same trunk are of different ages, there are fruits to be found in all
the stages of growth; so that every month or fortnight, and at all
seasons, a spike or two may be gathered from the same plant. There
is also a species of banana the fruit of which is not good to eat,
but from which raw silk is formed, called abaca, which is used to make
clothes, and all kinds of cordage. This filament is found in the trunk
of the plant, which, as I have said, consists of leaves placed one
over another, which, after being separated into long strips, and left
for some hours in the sun, is then placed on an iron blade, not sharp,
and then dragged with force over it. The parenchyme of the plant is
taken off by the iron blade, and the filaments then separate. Nothing
is now wanting but to expose them for some time to the sun's rays;
after which they are brought to market.

I observe that I have left my journey aside to describe three tropical
plants, which afford a sufficiency for all the wants of man. Those
plants are well-known; yet there may be some persons ignorant of
the utility, and of the various services which they render to the
inhabitants of the tropics. My readers will from them be naturally
led to reflect how the inhabitants of the torrid zone are favoured
by nature, in comparison with those of our frigid climate.

We were at the foot of the mountains, preparing to pass the night. Our
labour was always divided: one got the beds ready, another the fire,
a third the cookery. He who had to prepare the fire collects a quantity
of dry wood and of brambles. Under this heap of firewood he puts about
twelve pounds of elemi gum, which is common in the Philippines, where
it is found in quantities at the foot of the large trees from which
it flows naturally. He then takes a piece of bamboo, half a yard long,
which he splits to its length, tears with poignard so as to make very
thin shavings, which he rubs together while rolling them between his
hands, and then puts them into the hollow part of the other piece,
and lays it down on the ground, and then with the sharp side of the
piece from which he had taken the shavings, he rubs strongly the
piece lying on the ground, as if he wished to saw it across. In a
short time the bamboo containing the shavings is cut t