Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/246

 seems to resolve itself, it appears to us that the evidence preponderates against the use of Stipa Tenacissima for making cloth in ancient times, and points to the conclusion, that the coarse garments, to which Pliny alludes, were fabricated from the fibrous rind of Spartium Junceum.

One of the most interesting facts in the geography of plants is the frequent substitution in one country, of a plant of a certain natural order for another of the same natural order in another country. The Indians have a plant, bearing a very close and striking resemblance to the Spartium Junceum, which they employ just as the natives of Bas Languedoc employ that plant. We refer to the Crotalaria Juncea, called by the natives Goni, Danapu, or Shanapu, and by us the Sun-plant, or Indian Hemp. From the bark are made all kinds of ropes, packing-cloths, sacks, nets, &c. In order to improve the fibre, the plants are sown as close as possible and thus draw up to the height of about ten feet. According to Dr. Francis Buchanan, the plant thrives best on a poor sandy soil, and requires to be abundantly watered. After being cut down it is spread out to the sun and dried. The seed is beaten out by striking the pods with a stick. After this the stems are tied up in large bundles, about twelve feet in circumference, and are preserved in stacks or under sheds. When wanted, the stems are macerated during six or eight days. They are known to be ready, when the bark separates easily from the pith. "The plant is then taken out of the water, and a man, taking it up by handfuls, beats them on the ground, and occasionally washes them until they be clean; and at the same time picks out with his hand the remainder of the pith, until nothing except the bark be left. This is then dried, and being taken up by handfuls, is beaten with a stick to separate and clean the fibres. The hemp is then completely ready, and is spun into thread on a spindle, both by the men and women. The men alone weave it, and perform this labor in the open air with a very rude loom." The fabric made from it is a coarse, but very strong sack-cloth.

"The fibres, when prepared," says Ironside, "are so similar