HEMP. 69 



day, the long lines of cars laden with it stationed at 

 three of the four great avenues to the city waiting 

 the appointed hour ; and by having his rest broken 

 night after night by the rumbling noise made by 

 these numerous and heavy vehicles as they roll over 

 the lava-paved streets of the town towards the grotto 

 of Posilippo and the lake. In the long subterranean 

 road or tunnel of Posilippo, through which also they 

 must of necessity pass, there being no other com- 

 munication, the noise they make is astounding. 

 What with going and returning after the hemp has 

 been macerated, the inhabitants of a considerable 

 part of the city of Naples are regaled with this noc- 

 turnal music for more than two months every year. 



The grand mart however for hemp, as an article 

 of commerce, is Russia, where it is grown in immense 

 quantities and of the best quality. The principal 

 places of its cultivation are in the southern and 

 western provinces bordering upon Poland, and in 

 the provinces of Poland which belong to Russia. 

 The plant even grows wild in some parts of Russia. 

 In Siberia and about the river Volga it is found 

 flourishing in natural vigour near spots where towns 

 have formerly stood. The Cossack and Tartar 

 women gather it in considerable quantities in autumn, 

 when it has shed its seed and begins to die away. 

 It is not, however, collected by them for its fibres, 

 but is used, as by some other eastern people, as an 

 article of food, for 1 which it is prepared in various 

 ways *. 



Much anxiety was evinced some years since in 

 this country that we should obtain supplies of hemp 

 from our own dependencies, and its cultivation was 

 very much encouraged in Canada. The attention of 

 the planters being strongly called to it, several sam- 

 ples of hemp of Canadian growth were sent home. 

 * Pallas' Travels, torn, i. p. 356, torn, iii, p. 26. 



