It sometimes grows a hundred feet high. It is
as thick as a man's wrist, and it is very tough and strong. The people
split the rattan into thin strips. With these they make baskets, seats
of chairs, walking canes, ropes, and many other things.
The Mangyan men are good hunters. They hunt an animal called the
tim'a-rau. It is like a buffalo. They shoot it with bows and arrows.
There are a great many large forests in the Philippines, and there are
very fine trees in them. The most useful of the plants or trees is the
bamboo. I have already told you about it. The cocoanut palm is also a
very useful tree. The nuts give food and drink and oil.
[Illustration: A Philippine woman carrying water.]
On one of the islands there is a wonderful plant called the pitcher
plant. Its leaves are in the shape of pitchers. Some of the pitchers
have lids, and are large enough to hold a pint of water.
In the Philippines they raise coffee, bananas, sugar, tobacco, and
cotton. One of their most useful plants is the plant from which they
get hemp for making ropes and cords. This plant is called "ab'a-ca" by
the people in the Philippines, and its hemp is called Manila hemp.
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