20 



ON HEMP. 



HEMP CULTIVATED IN BENGAL. 



Hemp, Cannabis sativa • Banja in Sanscrit ; Bunga, Bungk, or 

 Bang, of the Hindoos; Bang of the Persians; Kinnub of the 

 Arabians ; is, no doubt, our own famous plant, now so common 

 and useful in Europe. I have, at different times, examined various 

 figures and descriptions, as well as the plants reared from Europe 

 seed, comparing them with our Indian plant through its various 

 stages, and can discover no difference whatever, not even to found 

 a variety on. Perhaps few vegetables, so widely diffused over al- 

 most every part of the known world, and under the immediate ma- 

 nagement of man, have undergone less change. It is perfectly fa- 

 miliar to all the nations in India ; I may say, of the warmer parts 

 of Asia : yet I cannot discover, that the fibres of the bark have ever 

 been employed by them for any purpose. It is cultivated in small 

 quantities every where (in India) on account of its narcotic qualities. . 



The leaves of the male plant, and flowers of the female, are 

 the parts in most general use. 



I have repeatedly applied for the seeds of all plants reared in 

 China, and other countries to the eastward of the Bay of Bengal, as well 

 as to almost every part of India we have any communication with, 



for an account of the plants employed to supply materials for cloths 



\ 



and cordage, and for their seeds ; but never could learn, that Can- 

 nabis was one of them, nor were its seeds ever sent to me as such. 



Dr. Roxburgh's Essay on Hemp, on Bengal Board of Trade Cons. 

 \2th Sept. 1801. 



The 



