THE commerce of Russia is almost entirely in the products of its soil; and these products are highly important, because they are precisely of that class which is essential to the wants of mankind in general. Among these, hemp and flax are conspicuous, being cultivated to a larger extent in that country than in any other. Russian hemp is considered the best that is grown. English hemp, indeed, is said to be superior to it; but we raise very little of it, because the land in our country can be turned to much better account in the culture of other articles. In the vast and thinly-peopled district of Russia, however, the culture of hemp is profitable; and so long as the article produced maintains its superiority, and the soil cannot be employed with more advantage, its culture to a very large extent will continue. By comparing," says Mr. Tooke, "the enormous consumption of this necessary material in the empire itself, with the great quantity which is annually shipped off, it is manifest, beyond all doubt, that no produce of farming, excepting rye, is of greater consequence to industry and trade."

The wild hemp grows very plentifully in some parts of Russia; it is found in the Ural mountains, and in the neighbourhood of the Volga, "principally in places where towns have formerly stood." In the Autumn, when it has shed its seed, and begins to VOL. X.

die away, it is gathered and eaten by many of the half-savage tribes of the empire.

It

Of equal importance with the culture of hemp, is that of flax, which is raised in large quantities, and is of an excellent quality. In many districts, the flax-grounds are as extensive as the corn-lands. is principally cultivated, as hemp also is, in what may be called the central part of European Russia. In the districts near the Kama, the finest Valachian flax is raised; Pallas says, that on the borders of that river, it grows to the height of seven spans, and yields a far better yarn than the common sort. Both the common and the Siberian flax, are found frequently wild, the former in the Steppes, about the northern Ural, and the latter, on the shores of the Volga. Many species of nettle, yielding fibres like those of hemp and flax, are also found growing wild to a very large extent; from some of them, the half-savage tribes obtain a yarn, which they weave into a kind of cloth, destitute, of course, of that strength which the tough fibres of the hemp and flax alone can impart.

The management of flax, (says Mr. Tooke,) has nothing peculiar in it; it is picked as elsewhere, cleared from the seeds, soaked in water, and broken by beating with wooden beetles. This product, next to hemp, forms the greatest article of exportation; a considerable part is wrought up into linens, diaper, canvass, and the like; and even the seeds are exported, both in their natural state, and as oil.

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Our engraving illustrates the operation of sorting and drying hemp and flax in Russia. It is the practice for the peasants to build, adjoining to the spot cultivated, a small hut in a circular shape; opposite to it, they level with great care a small spot of ground, and near this they erect a sort of rack, very lofty, with the bars, however, horizontal, instead of perpendicular. This arrangement answers all the purposes of sorting, drying, and preserving the hemp and flax. They pass the flax through the racks, where, being exposed to the air, it dries very fast; on the ground they sort the hemp and seed, and lay the whole up in the hut until it be wanted.

The hemp-plant is said to be a native of Persia, and to have been introduced into the north and east

The people of the district pretend, that hemp which is soaked in rivers, in brooks, and in large lakes, is of a very superior quality; consequently, they will repair with their hemp to a distance of many miles, to reach a river; but this method corrupts the waters, and is fatal to the fish.

accomplished in stagnant than in running water.

before the Christian era. Herodotus describes the hemp as growing in Scythia, where he had, in all probability, seen it himself.

They have, (he says,) hemp growing in the country, very much resembling flax, except in its thickness and size; but this hemp is much superior to that. It both grows spontaneously, and is cultivated; and out of it the Thracians make themselves garments like those of flax. Any one who was not very well acquainted with it, would not discern whether they were of flax or of hemp; and he who had never seen this hemp, would think the garment to be of

flax.

From Herodotus, we also learn that the Scythians were acquainted with the narcotic properties of hemp, and that they used the seed of the plant to obtain a sort of intoxicating vapour-bath. He describes with minuteness their simple though efficient apparatus; they placed three stakes in the ground, and around them stretched woollen fleeces, so as to form as complete an enclosure as possible; into this they threw red-hot stones, and on the stones they threw the hemp-seed. A steam was given off, "such as no Grecian vapour-bath could have retained;" this steam served the Scythians in the place of a bath, for they were not in the habit of bathing the whole body in water. Its intoxicating nature may be clearly traced in the description of its effects; the Scythians used to roar with delight. Among eastern nations, at the present day, hemp is employed, though in a different manner, to produce similar sensations. In the Hindoo economy, it serves as a substitute for malt, a favourite intoxicating liquor, called banga, being produced from it. The powdered leaves are infused in water, with the addition of some species of aromatic; and this decoction produces, when drunk, a drowsy ecstatic feeling, which is said to be much more agreeable than that brought on by opium. It is a species of enjoyment which may be purchased at a small price; but it is also one, to which a too-frequent recurrence will gradually bring on death. This also is an use to which it is applied in Egypt. Sometimes the leaves are mixed with tobacco for the purpose of smoking.

So powerful, indeed, is the narcotic secretion contained in this plant, that its deleterious effects are felt even while it is growing in the ground; and it is said, that a person who remains for any length of time amidst a plantation of young hemp, or who

The water in which hemp has been rotted, acquires an excessively disagreeable taste, and an infected odour. If there are any fish in it, they at first get intoxicated, and then as the fermentation gradually absorbs all the oxygen of the water, they at last die. Not only, however, does the water contract these of man or beast, but, also, there emanate from it hurtful properties, which render it unfit for the uses effluvia, which are very likely to occasion pestilential diseases in the neighbourhood. It is on this account, that, in France, the magistrates intrusted with the forbidden the practice of the operation of rotting care of the public health, have almost universally within the circuit of towns, in the vicinity of any habitations, and in rivers or running waters, which are used for drink, either by man or beast.

The process of rotting away the woody from the fibrous parts of the plants, is of extreme antiquity, (says Mr. Barlow,) it being noticed in the Sacred Writings, and having been used not only in this country, but on the Continent, from time immemorial; notwithstanding which, it has proved extremely detrimental to the health, not only of the inhabitants, but of the cattle of the countries in which which, on this account, it would be highly desirable to it is carried on, to a considerable degree, and is a system abolish. It becomes the source of many pestilential diseases, among which, perhaps, the malaria, so prevalent in the vicinity of Rome and Naples, may be numbered; besides which, since flax and hemp ripen about the month of August, and require to be submitted to this process as they dry, the farmer's attention becomes necessary to them, soon as they are taken from the ground, or at least, before at a time when it is most valuable, and can least be spared; namely, in the time of, or immediately antecedent to, his corn-harvest.

The operation of rotting hemp and flax, besides being one of some hazard to those engaged in it, is also one of considerable nicety; for its perfection, and the period when it should cease, depend on several fortuitous circumstances, which may dispose the woody matter of the stem to decompose with greater or less facility. Thus, it will be influenced by the strength or vigour of the plant, the moisture or dryness of the season, the temperature of the air during the process, as well as the soil from which the plant was produced. If the operation be carried too far, not only the woody matter, but the fibres also will be destroyed or injured; and if not far enough, it has generally been thought that the flax will not dress; and thus, after a good crop has been produced, it may be much injured, if not spoiled, in the incipient stage of its manufacture. The opinion has been held, that the circumstance of the operation of rot

ting, being to the cultivator one of much nicety and hazard combined, has, in all probability, proved a much greater barrier to the cultivation of hemp and flax in England, than the alleged exhaustion of soil, or any other cause.

Another operation, likewise injurious to those engaged in it, is that which succeeds to rotting; it is the process of breaking and dressing, which consists in the separation of what is commonly called the boon, or woody matter, from the harle, or useful fibres. It may be performed either by machinery or by hand; and in almost all cases, it is effected by a set of blunt iron teeth or breakers, fixed upon one piece of wood, and met by another similar set of teeth fixed to a moveable piece, which is worked by the one hand, while the flax in handfuls is introduced between these teeth, in various directions, with the other hand. During the operation, a remarkably fine dust is given out, which is thought to be the cause of the maladies to which those engaged in it are very much subject, and which particularly attack their organs of respiration. The dust, from its extreme fineness and lightness, being suspended in the air, is inhaled with it into the lungs, where its presence excites a cough more or less violent, and pains in the chest, which lead to other more serious affections, such as inflammation of the lungs, under which the workmen infallibly sink. Several attempts have been made of late years, in this country, to obviate the danger and inconvenience arising from the common system of rotting and dressing hemp and flax; but in Russia, and other countries on the Continent, very little progress has been made in the substitution of machinery for manual labour.

Hemp and flax are articles of great commercial importance to Russia; they form a very large item in the list of her exports. Nine-tenths of the whole quantity of hemp imported into England, come from Russia; of flax the proportion is not so large, a considerable supply of that article being obtained from Prussia and the Netherlands. A more accurate notion will be conveyed by the following details, relating to the year 1833. The total quantity of hemp imported into the United Kingdom, was 527,459 cwts., of which, 469,959 cwts. were supplied by Russia; the remainder is derived from various other countries, in comparatively small quantities, the territories of the East India Company furnishing 34,008 cwts. Of "flax, and tow, or codilla of hemp and flax," as it is entered in the public accounts, there were imported in the same period 982,516 cwts.; of which 667,868 cwts. came from Russia, 144,138 cwts. from Prussia, 114,191 cwts. from the Netherlands, 31,512 cwts. from France, and 15,867 cwts. from New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, and Swan River.

The consumption and importation of hemp have been materially diminished of late years, by the extensive use of iron or chain cables, as well in our commercial marine, as in the royal navy. During the late war, the price of hemp fluctuated very much; and the height to which it rose at times, in consequence of the difficulties thrown in the way of its importation, was the principal circumstance that originally brought iron cables into use. Their vast superiority in point of strength and durability, has since occasioned their almost universal substitution for hempen cables.

When the commerce of England with Russia began, hemp and flax were then, as they are now, among the staple products of the empire. In some papers inserted in Hakluyt's Collection of Voyages, we find many curious illustrations of the early history of that commerce; among other things, we learn

that an attempt was made at the close of Queen Mary's reign, to establish a colony of English ropemakers, in Russia, as servants of the Russia Company, then newly established; the plan of manufacturing the ropes there, instead of bringing the hemp to England, and manufacturing them at home, was adopted, because the charge of freight on the raw material was so heavy. We have an exposition of this scheme in the following extract from "a Letter of the Company of the Merchants Adventurers to Russia, unto George Killingworth, Richard Gray, and Henry Lane, their agents there," dated 1557.

And whereas you have provided tarre, and as we suppose some hempe ready bought, our advice is, that in no wise you send any of them hither unwrought; because our fraight is four pounds a tunne, or little lesse: which is so deare as it would not beare the charges: and, therefore, we have sent you seven ropemakers, as by the copies of their covenants here inclosed shall appeare. Whom we wil you set to worke with al expedition in making of cables and ropes of al sorts from the smallest rope, to xiii. inches: and that such tarre and hempe as is already brought to the water-side, they may there make it out, and after that, you settle their worke in Vologhda or Colmogro, as you shall thinke good, where there stuffe may be neerest to them: at which place and places you doe assigne them a principall overseer, as well to see the deliverie of the stuffe unwrought as also to take charge of the stuffe wrought, and to foresee that neither the yarne be burnt in tarring, nor the hempe rotted in the watering; and also to furnish them so with labourers, workmen, and stuffe, as hereafter, when these workman shall come away, we bee not destitute of good workmen, and that these may dispatch as much as possibly they may, doing it substantially for we esteeme it a prin cipal commoditie, and that the Counsel of England doth well allowe. Let all diligence be used, that at the returne of these shippes, we may see samples of all ropes and cables, if it be possible, and so after to continue in worke, that we may have good store against the next yeere. Therefore they have neede to have a place to worke in, in the Winter: and at any hand let them have helpe enough to spinne their stuffe; for seeing you have great plenty of hempe there, and at a reasonable price, we trust we shal be able to bring as good stuffe from thence, and better cheape than that out of Danske; if it be diligently used and have a good overseer.

Let the chiefest lading, (the letter continues,) of these four shippes be principally in waxe, flaxe, tallowe, and traine-oyle. And if there be any more wares than these shippes be able to take in, then leave that which is least in valew, and grossest in stowage, until the next shipping: for we doe purpose to ground ourselves chiefly upon these commodities, as waxe, cables, and ropes, traine-oyle, flaxe, and some linen yarne. As for masts, tarre, hemp, feathers, or any such other like, they would not beare the charges to have any, considering our deere fraight.

THE greatest pleasure in life is the society of a friend, with whom, in unrestrained exposition of one's thoughts, one may unravel and disentangle each skein of knotted prejudice and many-coloured opinion. In such intimacies, however, cultivated exclusively, what Lord Bacon termed idola specûs are sure to be worshipped. The principles may be right, the understanding may be sound, but the world is viewed from a single point, and to a certain extent inevitably erroneously. A true estimate of mankind, and of the value of human pursuits, can alone be formed by one who corrects his closest speculations by the collective judgment of society.-MAYo's Philosophy of Living.

peremptorily commanded to make these sentiments fully known to all classes of their communities, and to take care that no authority whatever might contravene them without its being reported. A few, and I believe but a very few, felt alarmed, at what they considered worse than high treason itself, or even a hurricane; but after a very short time, when they found that the canes still continued to grow, and that sugar and rum might still be made from them, their terrors seemed to subside, and even some of these alarmists are not ashamed now to occupy a pew with their black servants.

More crowded or more devout congregations I never witnessed in any country than in Barbados, and in others of the colonies; and it is gratifying to observe the progress which many grown-up people have made in the knowledge of the great truths of religion. As to the rising generation, they will be as well, if not better, educated than the children of the lower classes in England. The ministers of all denominations of Christians are not less improved in their manners and conduct, than are the members of the Establishment; and indiscreet zeal, and inflammatory mysticism, have given place to a pure devotion, and the steady inculcation and plain explanation of the great and practical truths of Christianity. There is a rivalry, no doubt, kept up, but it is a rivalry of love; and that mutual harmony, that peace and good-will, which now exist amongst all the Christian ministers in the West Indies, clearly indicate that the Spirit of all grace is with them, and that their labours are blessed.

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any rate enabled to hear the Gospel preached. The moment, however, it becomes that regiment's turn of duty to proceed on service to our West India colonies, a different state of things commences.

While many circumstances are calculated, as it were, to demoralize, and to draw him from the path of duty and of moral rectitude, there is not, I believe, a single church or chapel throughout the whole of the Windward and Leeward command, into which a British soldier has a right to enter,--certainly not one to which a regiment can be marched to hear the Gospel preached. There is only one regular military chaplain in the whole command, and he is stationed in Trinidad, where there is no chapel or any convenience whatever for preaching to the military, and where he is compelled to read the morning prayers, or a part of them, in the open gallery of the barracks, or in the barrack-yard.

In Barbados, where there are seldom fewer than 1200 men, and two or three hundred women and children, a clergyman is hired at seven-and-sixpence a day, whose chief duty it is to bury the dead, to christen such as may be born, and now and then to marry an officer or a soldier. He does, indeed, make every effort to read the morning prayers to the different regiments from the steps in front of their several barracks, but where, though the men are formed in as close order as they can stand together, not one in fifty can hear a word of what is read, while the powerful rays of the rising sun are drawing up around them the noxious vapours, that enter their empty stomachs and lungs, and pollute the stream of life.

There may be individuals, and I regret to say there are some in the West Indies, as in every country, who, destitute of all religious feeling and belief themselves, can see no advantage in teaching it to their people; but even these have latterly found the tide of popular opinion so strong against them, that they have been compelled to remain silent, or forced to sail with the stream; and I should scarcely be credited, were I able-which I really am not-to detail the progress that has been made in moral and religious improvement in the short space of eight or ten years.

Writing, as I do, with a view to instruct the uninformed of these kingdoms in some few matters that may be interesting as regards our colonial policy, I regret that I am compelled to notice, and that, perhaps, in rather strong terms, the cold indifference which seems to exist somewhere, with respect to the religious and moral instruction of our soldiers, and their families, on colonial service. With whom this neglect originates, or why it exists, I have not yet been able to ascertain, but that it does exist I have now to show.

While a regiment remains at home, that is, in any part of the United Empire, the soldier is most carefully attended to, and all his wants are supplied. His food is of the best quality, and abundant in quantity. His barrack-rooms are clean, and his bed is comfortable; and, whether Catholic or Protestant, he is compelled to attend a place of worship every Sunday; and, whether he may profit or not, he is at

If the same money had been laid out in building a church, at St. Ann's, where the garrison could attend divine service regularly, that has been spent in building a high wall to separate the barracks on the east from a few grog-shops in their rear, it would have been much more advantageous to the poor soldier's wellbeing in this world, to say nothing whatever of his peace of mind, and of his soul's salvation in the next.

It may truly be said, that, during the whole of the ten or eleven years that the soldier is absent in the colonies, he is compelled to live without God in the world. No measures whatever are taken to procure for him either the conveniencies or the consolations of hearing the word of God preached, or of attending to any one religious duty; how then, I ask, can we expect that his moral conduct will be correct? In the good old times, every regiment had its chaplain, and even during the war, the Duke of Wellington had a clergyman attached to every division and brigade of his army; I therefore recommend it seriously to the notice of the authorities at the Horse Guards, to consider, whether it would not be better to provide for the spiritual wants of our soldiers on service, and more especially in the West Indies, with a little more care and anxiety, and to direct their attention to the procuring of a more nutritive and congenial food, and to the means of securing greater personal comfort, than it would be to have recourse always to the terrors of the law, and this more especially when it has been so fully proved that no species of punishment, however severe or varied in its nature, can deter soldiers from the commission of crimes, 3