210 cook's first voyage 17^>9. 



of the cultivated land, and is not fit for use after two 

 or three years growth, when it is about six or eight 

 feet high, and somewhat thicker than a man's thumb ; 

 its excellence is to be thin, straight, tall, and with- 

 out branches : the lower leaves, therefore, are care- 

 fully plucked off, with their germs, as often as there 

 is any appearance of their producing a branch. 



But though the cloth made of these three trees is 

 different, it is all manufactured in the same manner ; 

 I shall, therefore, describe the process only in the 

 fine sort, that is made of the mulberry. When the 

 trees are of a proper size, they are drawn up, and 

 stripped of their branches, after which the roots and 

 tops are cut off; the bark of these rods being then 

 slit up longitudinally is easily drawn off, and, when 

 a proper quantity has been procured, it is carried 

 down to some running water, in which it is deposited 

 to soak, and secured from floating away by heavy 

 stones: when it is supposed to be sufficiently soft- 

 ened, the women servants go down to the brook, and 

 stripping themselves, sit down in the water, to sepa- 

 rate the inner bark from the green part on the out- 

 side ; to do this they place the under side upon a flat 

 smooth board, and with the shell, which our dealers 

 call tyger's tongue, telUna gargadia, scrape it very 

 carefully, dipping it continually in the water till 

 nothing remains but the fine fibres of the inner coat. 

 Being thus prepared in the afternoon, they are spread 

 out upon plantain leaves in the evening ; and in this 

 part of the work there appears to be some difficulty, 

 as the mistress of the family always superintends the 

 doing of it: they are placed in lengths of about eleven 

 or twelve yards, one by the side of another, till they 

 are about a foot broad, and two or three layers are 

 also laid one upon the other : care is taken that the 

 cloth shall be in all parts of an equal thickness, so 

 that if the bark happens to be thinner in any parti- 

 cular part of one layer than the rest, a piece that is 

 somewhat thicker is picked out to be laid over it in 



