204 



ON HEMP. 



cent, less, than when steeped after their better method thus de- 

 scribed : 



The Livonians choose a spot where there is a fall of clear 

 water, and there make five or six basons, one under the other, at 

 the most two feet deep. These basons are only separated by slight 

 banks of clay, in which a small aperture is easily made, and stop- 

 ped up at pleasure ; and by these means the water is let off from 

 one to the other. They put the plant first into the uppermost 

 ba§on; at the end of two or three days they remove it into the 

 second, and soon to the last. At each steeping the first bason is 

 filled with fresh plants, and the water removed in all the basons. It 

 is further said, that the English and Dutch import no Hemp from 

 Riga that hath not been steeped after this manner. — But I do not, 

 says Mr. Frushard, find that the French ever availed themselves of 

 this information : and indeed this method seems complicate, with- 

 out any adequate good resulting from it, and it approaches too 

 much to running water, which all condemn. Wehave not much more, 

 therefore, says he, to fear from leaving the plant three or four days 

 in the water, as is the practice with the Natives, than we have from 

 not drying the plant before steeping, nor is there reason to believe that 

 the arcanum of strength lies any more with the one than the other. 



All seem to agree in having little more water than to cover the 

 plant; whereas the Natives generally steep their plant in tanks, 

 where there is greatly more than sufficient : and this may be one 

 reason why the steeping is not so soon effected, as a strong infusion 

 of the plant, endued with such powerful qualities, may possibly 



be 



