34 ^^ HENfP AND 



fet of drawings, aiul a new defcription, oF fne old one cor- 

 rected, becon)e«i necellary. They will be fent to the Directors 

 this feafon. The obje<5t may be fucrh as your Society with to 

 attend to; and on that account I have ventured to trouble you 

 with the above ftatement, 

 ' ^ I am, dear Sir, 



Your mod obedient Servant, 



W. Roxburgh. 

 Calcutta, Dec. 2i, 1799. 

 Robert WifTel, Efq. 



Dear Sir, ii 



Experiments on MY letter of the 2 Uh of December, 1799, I am afraid, iias 

 ^^"P* not reached you. The experiments on hemp, therein mett- 



tioned, have not, I believe, thrown much additional light on 

 the fubject. My friend, Capt, Burrows, of the Earl H«we, 

 'has done more to make our own indigenious fpecies {ihe fun 

 of the Bengalefe) belter known, than any other perfon I am 

 acquainted with. 

 Comparative ex- f^r thefe laft twelvemonths my attention has been much 

 vegetable iibres. ^^^^-Cn up in collecting and comparing the various vegetable 

 fibres of Afia, &c. ufed for cordage, cloths, and paper. The 

 refult of fhefe I have lately prcfented to the fupreme govern- 

 ment, to be fent to the Hon. the Court of Dire61ors, in reply 

 to the 79th paragraph of their general letter of the 7th of May 

 Neceflityofa , |aft. This paper may be interefling to your Society, par- 

 Pvuflianhemp. t'^u^^i^H' at this time, when the attention of all good patriots 

 is drawn towards the difcovery of a fubftitute for Ruffian hemp. 

 This paper, with my former elTays, contain much information 

 on the fubjed* therein mentioned. 

 The /tt« plant is The fun of the Hindoos, which is the prepared fibres of 

 mo piomi mg. ^^^ ^^^^ ^^- ^ vvell-known Indian plant, ihe crotalaria juncea 

 of Linnceus, ftill appears to me to be the mofi promifing fub- 

 llitute for hemp which has come to our knowledge ; 1 mean, 

 when every, circumftance, relative to its quicknefs of growth, 

 its being already univerfaily known aod cultivated by all the 

 rations of India, its low price, pliablenefs, firengtl), dura- 

 bility, &c. &c. are taken into confideration. All that can 

 be necefTary for the procuring and tranfporting to England 

 any quantity of tliis material, is to cnfnre the cultivator a 



certain 



