Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/516

Rh 484 COTTON hand-spinning, weaving, and dyeing which during that vast period received no recorded improvement. The people, though remarkable for their intelligence whilst Europe was in a state of barbarism, made no approximation to fche mechanical operations of modern times, nor was the cultiva tion of cotton either improved or considerably extended. Possessing soil, climate, and apparently all the requisite elements from nature for the production of cotton to an almost boundless extent, and of a useful and acceptable quality, India for a long series of years did but little towards supplying the manufacturers of other countries with the raw material which they required. Between the years 1788 and 1850 numerous attempts were made by the East India Company to improve the cultivation and to increase the supply of cotton in India, and botanists and American planters were engaged for the purpose. One great object of their experiments was to introduce and acclimatize exotic cottons. Bourbon, New Orleans, Upland Georgia, Sea Island, Pernambuco, Egyptian, &c., were tried but with little permanent success. The result of these and similar attempts, more recently made, has been to establish the conclusion that efforts to improve the indigenous cottons are most likely to be rewarded with success. As will be seen from, the table showing the imports of cotton into Great Britain, on a subsequent page, the largest supply obtained from India prior to the American civil war was in 1857, being upwards of 680,000 bales, of the value of 5,458,426 ; but in 1866, owing to the efforts employed to increase the production of cotton, the import from India had reached a total of 1,847,760 bales, of the value of 25,270,547. The quantity now obtained from India averages something over one million of bales annually, being the largest supply pro cured from any one country with the exception of America. The cultivation of cotton is not of so remote a date in China as in India. In the accounts of the revenues and of the arts of China during the period of the celebrated dynasty which commenced about 1100 years before the Christian era, and lasted for some centuries, no mention is made of the cotton planb ; nor, indeed, is there any notice of cotton in these records until about 200 years before the Christian era ; from which period to the 6th century the cotton cloth, which was either paid in tribute, or offered in presents to the emperors, is always mentioned as a thing rare and precious. The annals record as a singular circum stance that ihs Emperor Ou-ti, who ascended the throne in 502, had a robe of cotton. In the 7th century we find the cotton plant mentioned, but its cultivation appears to have been then confined to gardens ; and the poems and romances of that period are occupied in celebrating the beauty of its flowers. It was in the llth century that the cotton plant was first removed from the gardens to the fields, and became an object of common culture ; and it is only from this period that we can date the commencement of the manufacture in China. The cotton tree was intro duced into that country at the time of its conquest by the Mongol Tartars in the year 1280 ; after which period every encouragement was given by the Government to the cul ture and manufacture of cotton. Considerable difficulties, however, were at first encountered through the prejudices of the people and the opposition of those engaged in the manu facture of woollen and linen ; and it was not until the year 1368 that they were altogether surmounted. After that date rapid progress was made, and cotton has ever tinc3 supplied the material manufactured for the clothii g of a large proportion of the population of China. The Chinese, in addition to their own growth of cotton, obtain large imports from India and the Burmese territories. A famine which happened in China about the close of the 18th century induced the Government to Cent direct, by an imperial edict, that a greater portion of the land should be devoted to the cultivation of grain. Since then the importation of cotton from India has been con siderable, though but a small part of that which is consumed in their manufactures. China, indeed, was never a source of supply to other countries, excepting to a small extent and for a brief period, when the whole world was ran sacked to meet the exigencies of the cotton famine. Central and South America and the West Indies, though now but comparatively insignificant sources of supply, ^ were formerly of much greater importance. On the con quest of Mexico, in 1519, it is said that Cortes received garments of cotton as presents from the natives of Yucatan, as well as cotton cloths for coverings to his huts ; and the clothing of the Mexicans was found to consist chiefly of cotton. In Peru raw cotton and cotton fabrics have long been known to exist, and specimens from the ancien-t Peruvian tombs were at an early period brought to Europe for exhibition. In the time of the Incas, in 1532, there is evidence that the plant was successfully cultivated ; and the tree-cotton of Peru has often attracted attention, and been made the subject of examination for the purpose of deter mining whether it is the veritable Gossypium arboreum of Linnaeus. It is represented to be not only exceedingly beautiful, but valuable on account of its abundant crops. It yields largely ior four or five years, and may be maintained for eight or ten years without being renewed. The Gossypiiim peruvianum or acuminatum, cultivated in the coast valleys of Peru, is an arborescent kind growing to 10 or 15 feet in height. It produces the cotton of Brazil, Pernambuco, Marauliao, Peru, &c. The Anguilla cotton, better known as Sea Island, is represented to be a native of Honduras; it spread thence to the West Indies, and was carried to the United States shortly after the revolution. The West Indies, before the present century, was the chief source from which England derived the cotton then required. The finest ever brought to the English market, or probably ever grown, was raised in the island of Tobago between the years 1789 and 1792 upon the estate of Mr Robley. The West Indian cottons have generally been highly esteemed, but the cultivation has been neglected for the sake of sugar, which was found to be a more profitable crop. Amongst the countries which in more recent times have become prominent for the supply of cotton, Egypt deserves to be specially mentioned, furnishing a staple which for quality and length holds a high rank and comes next to Sea Island. Cotton was doubtless grown in Egypt at a very remote period, but was cultivated only to a small extent, and chiefly for home consumption, before the early part of the present century, when the inferior indigenous was superseded by the present exotic plant, the produce of which has obtained a high reputation. Its introduction was due to Maho Bey, who had been governor of Dongola and Sennaar, and had brought seed of the plant with him from Ethiopia. In his garden at Cairo it was discovered about the year 1 820, by a French man named Jumel, in the service of Mehemet Ali. That sagacious ruler saw the advantages likely to accrue from the cultivation of a product suited to the soil and climate of the country, and which was in great and growing demand. His measures were carried out with such energy, and upon such a scale, as to enable him so early as 1823 to export to England 5623 bales of this new description of cotton. Jumel, who had resided for some years in America, and had some acquaintance with cotton, after some not very satisfactory first essays in cotton-growing, associ ated himself with a Cairo merchant, and commenced a small plantation near the obelisk of Heliopolis. His efforts proving highly successful, he was at length entrusted