Measurements of the polytropic index &ggr; inside a magnetic cloud showed that there are two non-equal tubes inside the cloud [Fainberg et al., 1996; Osherovich et al., 1997>. For both tubes, &ggr;<1, but each tube has its own polytrope. We test equilibrium solutions which are a superposition of solutions with cylindrical and helical symmetry [Krat and Osherovich, 1978> as a new paradigm for a multi-tube model. Comparison of magnetic and gas pressure profiles for these bounded MHD states with observations suggests that complex magnetic clouds can be viewed as multiple helices embedded in a cylindrically symmetric flux rope. ¿ 1999 American Geophysical Union