J^egetahle Materials for Cordage, &fc. 35 



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 J 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 in it. But on a 

 reference to the 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- 

 ta, 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 

 no support, yet the supercargo to increase the chance of a favora- 

 ble decision on the question, thought proper to consult me, and I re- 

 ferred him for a confirmation of their statements to the articles I had 

 published five years before, (1803,) in the work already mentioned. 

 A gentleman 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, 

 and Mr. Roxburgh, which the supercargo put into my hands at the 

 timev 



