Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/358

 in the Persian Gulf, near the Arabian coast. According to his account in the latter passage, "The wool-bearing trees, which grew abundantly in this island, had a leaf like that of the vine, but smaller; they bore no fruit, but the capsule cantaining the wool, was, when closed, about the size of a quince, when ripe, it expanded so as to emit the wool, which was woven into cloths, either cheap, or of great value."

Sprengel in his German translation (p. 150. vol. ii.) supposes the Broussonetia Papyrifera to be meant in the former passage. But he gives no good reason for this supposition, and he admits, that the Broussonetia Papyrifera grows in China, not in India. The expression of Theophrastus, [Greek: hôsper elechthê]) which he employs in the latter passage (c. 9. p. 144. ''ed. Schneider), clearly proves, that he is speaking of the same plant in both passages, and Sprengel himself (p. 164.) supposes the Gossypium Arboreum of Linnæus, the Cotton Tree, to be meant in the latter, though not in the former. The description of Theophrastus is remarkably exact, if we consider it as applying, not to the Cotton Tree (Gossypium Arboreum), but to the Cotton Plant (G. Herbaceum''), from which the chief supply of cotton for spinning and weaving into cloth has always been obtained.

Aristobulus, one of Alexander's generals, made mention of the cotton-plant under the name of the Wool-bearing Tree, and stated that its capsule contained seeds, which were taken out, and that what remained was combed like wool.

The testimony of Nearchus, who was the admiral of Alexander, is also preserved to the following effect; "that there were in India trees bearing, as it were, flocks or bunches of wool; that the natives made linen garments of it, wearing a shirt, which reached to the middle of the leg, a sheet folded about the shoulders, and a turban rolled round the head; and that the linen made by them from this substance was fine and whiter than any other." It is to be observed, that Nearchus, or