HEMP AND FLAX GROWN IN INDIA. 3 
possessed of very valuable properties. Further, by proceeding 
in such inquiries, we shall find that the natives of India, besides 
writing on the leaves of palm-trees and the bark of the birch, 
as well as engraving their records on rocks or on plates of metal, 
have long been acquainted with the manufacture of paper. We 
may, therefore, enquire whether cotton is the only material 
which they convert into this useful product, or whether there 
are not other substances which they themselves employ, and 
which we may also apply to the growing (I had almost said in- 
satiable) wants of this manufacture, as necessary for our 
comfort and commerce, as for the continued and advancing 
civilisation of the world. 
If we extend our inquiries only to the plants which are 
cultivated by the natives of India, many will no doubt be sur- 
prised to find among them not only the true Hemp but also 
the true Flax plant; and the more so when they learn, that 
both are extensively cultivated, not in one, but in almost every 
part of the wide-spread territories of the Indian empire. Still 
more curious is it, that in few places are these plants valued for 
their fibres, which in Europe are almost the sole objects of 
attention. But in India, the Hemp plant is esteemed for the 
intoxicating properties secreted by its leaves, and the Flax plant 
for the oil stored up within its seeds. The stems of both 
plants, which in Europe are valued for their fibres, are in 
India either thrown away or burnt. It will at once be con- 
cluded, as has more than once been the case, that countless 
loads of valuable fibre are thus yearly lost, either from the igno- 
rance or the carelessness of the cultivators. Without denying 
that this may, in some degree at least, be the case, we may 
say in this,as in many other things, a little knowledge leads 
but to incorrect conclusions. 
The Hemp plant being valued for its intoxicating sécretions, 
it has been found by the people of India, that these are best 
produced when the plants are freely exposed to light and air, 
and therefore they place them at distances of nine feet apart 
from each other. This exposure to light, heat, and air, in a 
rich soil and brilliant climate, is so well suited to the plants, 
that they grow to a great size and throw out branches on all 
sides; but the fibres, instead of being flexible and strong, 
are found to be woody and brittle. And this is only what 
