“An interesting example of a 19^th century American trader who imported large amounts hemp from Russia was William Ropes of Salem, Massachusetts. Ropes established a foreign office for his trading company at St. Petersburg in 1832, and until his death in 1859, traded American products such as mineral oil, for Russian goods such as hemp rope. Because of his connection with ropes and oil, he was known as “Ropeski kerosin” (Kerosine Ropeman) throughout the Russian Empire; where he traveled thousands of miles into its vast interior to buy hemp rope and other products, accompanied by his head clerk and a large dog named Tiger who helped protect him from outlaws (Morison 1921).”