"I may say, Pencroft, that the bark of the bamboo, cut into flexible laths, is used for making baskets; that this bark, mashed into a paste, is used for the manufacture of Chinese paper; that the stalks furnish, according to their size, canes and pipes and are used for conducting water; that large bamboos make excellent material for building, being light and strong, and being never attacked by insects.
Debes saber, Pencroff, que la corteza de bambú, cortada en tiras flexibles, sirve para hacer cestas y canastillos; que, reducida a pasta y macerada, sirve para hacer el papel de China; que los tallos, según su grueso, dan bastones, tubos de pipa y conductos para las aguas; que los grandes bambúes constituyen excelentes materiales de construcción, ligeros, sólidos y libres de insectos, que nunca los atacan.