Vegetable Materials for Cordage, &c. 35 
4 
vegetables so different, and from opposite quarters of the globe, 
for no reason, except that they can be worked up into the same arti- 
cles, and applied to the same mechanical purposes. In the case 
of the coir and hemp, however, this equalization subsequently took 
place; for upon refunding the amount of extra duty paid by Mr. 
F., an order was issued by the treasury department, to charge in 
future, the same duties on hemp and coir cordage, viz. five cents 
per pound, and this duty was actually paid on a quantity a few weeks 
after. This order cannot be justified by the terms of the tariff law, 
and must be considered as the result of a forced construction of it, 
for the reasons just given. Coir cordage, and that from other Indian 
vegetables, ought to be classed with the sun-plant twine, and with 
the fibres of the Agave, (Sisal hemp,) until an express law on the 
subject be passed, to fix their rates of duty. 
-A discussion on the subject of the twine made from the sun-plant, 
had taken place at the custom house of Philadelphia, in the year 
1808, in Consequence of the arrival of a ship from Calcutta, with a 
quantity of that article on board. By a law then recently. passed, 
hempen cordage was prohibited, and the surveyor of the port being 
informed of the twine on board of the ship, showed samples of it to 
Several persons all of whom pronounced it to be made of hemp. 
He therefore gave his opinion that the law had been contravened, and 
that the ship had incurred the penalty expressed init. But on a 
reference tothe collector of the port, he was overruled, for one of 
the supercargoes, had the foresight to obtain letters from Mr. Wm. 
Roxburgh, jr. the superintendent of the botanic garden near Calcut- 
‘a, and from the Rev. Mr. Carey, to show the nature of the plant 
from which the twine had been made, and that neither hemp nor 
flax were ever used in India, as materials for cordage or twine, a 
fact since frequently confirmed. Although such authorities required 
+ support, yet the supercargo to increase the chance of a favora- 
P e decision on the question, thought proper to consult me, and I re- 
ee: him for a confirmation of their statements to the articles I had 
Published five years before, (1803,) in the work already mentioned. 
8entleman who had resided for ten years in Calcutta, added the 
Weight of his testimony to the same points, and the ship was releas- 
ed from the Custom house seals. I annex the letters of Mr. Carey, 
io Roxburgh, which the supercargo put into my hands at the 
