T i:\DE IN SALTPETRE 



SANSBVIERIA 



ROXBUHGH1ANA 



\|M>rtnl amounted to 405,668 cwt. a year, whilst for a similar 

 |.>T!" ben yean later, 1888-1803, the average annual export* wen* 

 389,989 cwt. The highest values, ranging 



"'X), occurred at the time of the An irom 18*> 



but saltpetre was then an essential coi of explosive* and 



1 mii;i had almost a monopoly of supplies. 



The actual figures of the exports of saltpetre during the five yean KM* 

 <>n<lmg 1906-7 were as follows : 1902-3, 410,622 cwt., valul at 

 1903-4, 392,114 owt., valued '.75,364; 1904-6, 



348,741 owt., valued at Rs. 3<i 1905-6, 331. valued 



at Rs. 38,52.U19 ; and 1906-7, 353,378 cwt., valued at Rs. -1 

 (=276,168). In the last year the largest cjn I as 



follows : United States, li i mted Kingdom, 98,804 cwt. ; 



< i (Hongkong), 78,499 cwt.; Mauritius, 26,174 cwt.; etc. I' 

 rally the whole of the exports go from Bengal (348,263 cwt. in 1906-7). 

 Holland (Rev. Min. Prod., in Rec. (feol. Ni/rr. Ind., 1907, xxxvi.. 81) shown 

 the average value per cwt. for the past five years as 14*5 shillings, and 

 he points out that the importance of the industry may be inferred from 

 the fact that in Bihar (during 1906) there were 50,469 workers employed. 



Only very small quantities are imported into India by sea, averaj." 

 about 19 cwt. during 1901-5, but in 1905-6 the quantity suddenly rose 

 to 4,848 cwt. (owing to the importation into Bengal of 4,820 cwt. from 

 China), and in 1906-7 fell to 28 cwt. Considerable quantities, however, 

 are annually carried across the frontier, almost entirely from Nepal. The 

 actual figures of Trans-frontier imports for the period 1900-5 were as 

 follows : 1900-1, 4,590 cwt, ; 1901--J. 1 1.:t.j2 cwt. ; 1902-3, 2,758 cwt. ; 

 1903-4, 4,429 owt. ; 1904-5, 2,872 cwt. 



[<?/. Tavernier, Travel* Ind. (ed. Ball), 1670, i., 122; Thevenot, Travtl* in 

 Levant, Indostan, etc., 1087, pt. iii., 51-2, 105; Macpherson, Hut. Europ. Comm. 

 with India, 1812, 102, 408; Milburn, Or. Comm., 1813. ii., 238-42; Her. 

 Prod. Ind., 1894. 20 ; 1895, 52 ; Oov. Publicat. Dept., Fin. and Com., on Admin. 

 Salt. Rev., Sept. 3, 1894, 45-9 ; 1890, 54 ; 1897, 54-5 ; Waring, Bar. Med. 

 Ind., 1897, 107-9 ; Agri. Ledg., 1900, No. 13, 135 ; Blount and Bloxam, Chem. 

 for Engin. and Manuf., 1900, ii., 400-1, 432; Kept. Admin. Beng., 1901-2. 

 35 ; Craddock, Saltpetre in Burma, Ind. For., 1901, xxvii., 582 ; Con/or 

 in Journ. Soc. Arts, 1903, Iii., 145; Ashton, Ind. .^nit/.-trt, in Anglo-Orient. 

 Comm., April 1906, i., 258-60; Rec. Qeol. Surv. Ind., 1905, xxxii., 15; 1906, 

 xxxiii., 19 ; Repts. Admin. N. Ind. Salt Dept. t 



SANSEVIERIA ROXBURGHIANA, .sv/n///.. /. S. zey- D.E.P., 



lanica, Roxb., Fl. Ind,, ii., 161 ; Fl. Br. Ind., vi., 271 ; HAHODORACKJL y^pt. IL, 

 The Bowstring Hemp, marul, murva, murga, murgali, gorachakra, chaga, 

 etc., the Sanskrit for it being apparently marura (Jones, At. Re*. 



271). 



A stemless bush with a rosette of succulent radical leaves, each ending in a long 

 spine. It is by some persons held to be indigenous to India, by others, like the 

 remaining members of the genus, to be African. But if not a native of India, the 

 vernacular name murva must have been adapted to it from some other plant 

 which in ancient times afforded the maurvi string of the warrior caste (/iisfiMsfl 

 of Mann, ii.. 42. 44). One or two species are fairly exten- 

 Indian gardens as ornamental shrubs, and here and there occasionally raise 

 on account of the fibre. From the succulent leaves, the fibre is extracted and 

 is much valued, because of its elasticity and consequent suitability for bow- 

 strings. The reader will find imu-h useful information <-n this subject in 1 

 Agricultural Ledger (1890, No. 30), where it will >e found murva fibre has been 

 recommended as a catch crop with tea. [Cf. Roxburgh. Obt. on Sut*MuU ft 

 Hemp and Flax, 1801, No. 12 ; Dodge, Ute/ul Fibre Plants of the World, 18W. 



975 



460-L 



Hemp. 







