270 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
The hemp is also often matted, from portions of the pulp sub- 
stance or skin remaining with the fibre, by the carelessness or 
unskilfulness of the workman. The portions when cleaned are hung 
for an hour or two to dry; if in the open air on any branch of a 
tree, within reach of the operator’s hands ; if in a house, on a peg 
in the wall: no further preparation is necessary for the ordinary 
Manila hemp of commerce. The production of a day’s work of 
three persons, probably not working hard, is ordinarily about 14lbs. 
Of the fibres thus prepared some are fine and fit for bemg 
woven: these the women select, separate, and roll up tightly into a 
ball as big as a child’s head, which is placed in the wooden mortar, 
of which there is one in every house for husking rice, and is 
pounded for some time with the wooden pestle. This operation 
renders the hemp-thread flexible and less liable to break ; after 
which the ends are knotted together by women and girls, to form à 
continuous thread. The weaving process is the same as for Cotton 
fabrics. In weaving fime hemp cloth, the wind is apt to break 
the threads, if not under shelter. The cloth when woven is placed 
for a day and night in water, with a little lime made from the sea- . 
shells, and afterwards washed and stretched out. The price paid 
to the actual producers of the hemp must be very low; because it 
has to be collected in small quantities from house to house, and 
transported, chiefly on horseback, through a country whose roads 
are few and bad. Tts selling price is commonly about 11s. or 125. 
per cwt. at the outports, whence it is conveyed by coasting 
craft to Manila. At Manila the hemp is screwed into well-shaped 
bales, measuring about ten cubic feet, and weighing 280 lbs. each, 
which is the form in which it appears as merchandise. The screw 
is a worm, worked like the capstan of a ship, which in descending 
forces the hemp into a strong wooden box, the upper portions of 
which are taken to pieces as the hemp is forced down. 
The price at Manila, in bales ready for shipment, is usually 
about 18s. or 20s. per cwt. The quantity exported annually 
is about 5,000 tons weight; of which about two-thirds or three- 
fourths go to the United States, and the remainder chiefly to this 
country, where its consumption appears to be increasing. 
