Page:A voyage to New Holland - Dampier.djvu/60

22 the Cotton breaks forth. It may be of use for stuffing of Pillows, or the like; but else is of no value, any more than that of the great Cotton-tree. I took of these Cods before they were quite ripe, and laid them in my Chest; and in two or three days they would open and throw out the Cotton. Others I have bound fast with Strings, so that the Cod could not open; and in a few Days after, as soon as I slackned the String never so little, the Cod would burst, and the Cotton fly out forceably, at a very little hole, just as the Pulp out of a roasting Apple, till all has been out of the Cod. I met with this sort of Cotton afterwards at Timor (where it was ripe in November) and no where else in all my Travels; but I found two other sorts of Silk-cotton at Brazil, which I shall there describe. The right Cotton-Shrub grows here also, but not on the Sand-bank. I saw some Bushes of it near the Shore; but the most of it is planted in the middle of the Isle, where the Inhabitants live, Cotton-cloth being their chief Manufacture; but neither is there any great store of this Cotton. There also are some Trees within the Island, but none to be seen near the Sea-side; nothing but a few Bushes scattering up and down against the sides of the adjacent Hills; for, as I said before, the Land is pretty high from