HEMP, Manilla, commonly called Manilla white rope. Mr Crawford gives the following account of this article:—"Of the wild banana, one kind (Musa textilis) grows in vast abundance in some of the most northerly of the Spice Islands. In the great island of Mindanao, in the Philippines, it fills extensive forests. From the fibrous bark or epidermis is manufactured a kind of cloth, in frequent use among the natives. It also affords the material of the most valuable cordage which the indigenous products of the Archipelago yield. This is known to our traders and navigators under the name of Manilla rope, and is equally applicable to cables, and to standing or running rigging." (Hist. of Archipelago, vol. i. p. 412.)