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The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous ... - Cd3wd.com

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CHAPTER II.<br />

HEMP*.<br />

CULTIVATION AND USES OF HEBIP BY THE ANCIENTS ITS USE LIMITED<br />

THRACE COLCHIS CARIA ETYMOLOGY OF HEMP.<br />

<strong>The</strong> use <strong>of</strong> Hemp among the ancients was very limited. It<br />

is never mentioned in the Scriptures, <strong>and</strong> not <strong>of</strong>ten by the<br />

heathen writers <strong>of</strong> antiquity. It is remarkable, that no notice<br />

is taken <strong>of</strong> it by <strong>The</strong>ophrastus. It was however used among<br />

the Greeks <strong>and</strong> Romans for making ropes <strong>and</strong> nets, but not for<br />

sacks, these being made <strong>of</strong> goats'-hairt.<br />

<strong>The</strong> only reason for introducing hemp in this enumeration<br />

is, that, according to Herodotus (iv. 74.) garments loere made<br />

<strong>of</strong> it hy the Thracians. " <strong>The</strong>y were so hke <strong>linen</strong>," says he,<br />

" that none but a very experienced psrson could tell whether they<br />

were <strong>of</strong> hemp or flax ; one, who had never seen hemp, would<br />

certainly suppose them to be hnen." <strong>The</strong> coarser kinds <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>linen</strong> would, it is certain, be scarcely, if at all distinguishable<br />

from the finer kinds <strong>of</strong> hempen cloth.<br />

Hesychius {v. Kiu^^a /?

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