View source for Raffia

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Raffia is the Malagasy name of a palm which furnishes a staple article of commerce called raffia fiber. It is indigenous to Madagascar, where it grows without cultivation or attention of any kind. One palm leaf, or frond, produces eighty to one hundred long green
divisions 2 to 5 feet in length, like the leaves of the sugar-cane, but of a dark lustrous green color and thicker and stiffer. The under part of this green leaf is of a pale greenish yellow color, and from that side the inner skin is peeled off in the same manner as the skin on the outside of a pea pod, except that it peels off straight to the tip without breaking. It is then of the palest green, and after being dried in the sun assumes a light straw-color. This is the raffia fiber of commerce. 

Raffia fiber is extensively used by the natives for making cloths called silk lambas and rebannas, which bring fancy prices in Europe and America, where it is used in the manufacture of various kinds of hats, and the like. A large trade is also had in raffia fiber in Europe for use in the manufacture of fancy baskets, but in America, while raffia fiber has been used to a limited extent in the manufacture of hats, its principal use is for tying vines, flowers, asparagus and celery bunches and for grafting. It is soft as silk and not affected by moisture or change in temperature so as to risk cutting or wounding the most delicate tissues, and it does not break or ravel when folded or knotted. These qualities bring it into general use in Europe, especially in the vineyards of France, where it is extensively used, and consequently maintains its price. It is virtually inexhaustible in Madagascar, the supply being limited only by the scarcity of labor. For export, the fiber is collected in large skeins, twisted or plaited, and then packed in compressed bales of about 100 kilograms (220 pounds) each. About 20,000 bales are exported annually.          
Chas. W. Jacob & Allison.
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