11 
It is known as the Kanaff (Kanabe or Kanaspe), and is a textile 
plant found in large quantities on the Persian shores of the Caspian 
sea, all the production and sale being in the hands of Persians, who do 
ot know wha to put on it, rp therefore ask absurd prices, 
Boifictimnes too high aia sometimes to 00 
The quality of the flax, it appears, is a a and it is only fair to 
skin that this will develop into a large industry when the prices 
settle 
At the present time the price is about the same as that of Indian jute, 
which, when the high cost of local transport is added, practically puts it 
out of the market. 
The present price is from 13d. to 2d. per pound. 
I have the honour to enclose a sample of the wis of this plant. 
The Right Hon. (Signed) Saas MURRAY, 
The Marquis of Salisbury, K.G., Lieutenant and Acting Consul. 
&c. &e. &c. 
A full account of Deccan or Ambasi hemp obtained in India from 
Hibiscus cannabinus is given in the Dictionary of the Economie 
Products of India, vol. iv., pp. 231-236. The plant is a herbaceous 
shrub apparently wild in some parts east of the Northern Ghâts but 
largely cultivated for its fibre throughout Irdia. The produce is chiefly 
used by the agricultural classes locally. Dr. Watt, C.I.E., states that 
the fibre is soft, white, and silky and eminently suitable for the coarser 
textile purposes to which jute is applied. Were a demand to be created 
for this fibre as distinct from that of Sunn-hemp or other fibres the 
are sometimes exported from India to England as an oil-seed. 
IV.—_COTTON IN WEST AFRICA. 
[K. B., 1820, pp. p: 135-140.) 
eg gun to receive attention. The samples of West African Cotton 
received in this country have, however, been favourably received, and 
iti is 5 addont that much could be done to extend the cultivation by 
judicious action on the part of the local authorities and by the intro- 
duction and distribution of seed of good and suitable varieties of the | 
Cotton plant. If once the cultivation could be generally taken up by 
the native oy Seta and especially in districts where the industry is 
more or less familiar to the people, there are good grounds for believing 
that West African eee would eventually become an important ae 
of export. In the following correspondence attention is drawn 
subject of Cotton growing generally in West ica; and an aa o 
is given of an attempt which has lately been made to introduce and 
cultivate experimentally the best forms of Egyptian Cotton. This 
