118 plant's NATUBAL HISTOEY. [Cook XII. 



were it not that they are of smaller size. They bear a kind of 

 gourd, about the size of a quince ; n which, when arrived at 

 maturity, bursts asunder and discloses a ball of down, from 

 which a costly kind of linen cloth is made. 



(11.) This tree is known by the name of gossypinus : 73 

 the smaller island of Tylos, which is ten miles distant from the 

 larger one, produces it in even greater abundance. 



CHAP. 22. THE TREE CALLED CYNA. TEEES PEOM WHICH 



PABEICS FOE CLOTHING ARE MADE IN THE EAST. 



Juba states, that about a certain shrub there grows a woolly 

 down, from which a fabric is manufactured, preferable even to 

 those of India. He adds, too, that certain trees of Arabia, 

 from which vestments are made, are called cynse, and that they 

 have a leaf similar to that of the palm. Thus do their very 

 trees afford clothing for the people of India. In the islands of 

 Tylos, there is also another tree, with a blossom like the white 

 violet u in appearance, though four times as large, but it is 

 destitute of smell, a very remarkable fact in these climates. 



CHAP. 23. A COTJNTEY WHEEE THE TEEES NEVEE LOSE THEIR 



LEAVES. 



There is also another tree similar to the preceding one, but 

 with a thicker foliage, and a blossom like the rose. This flower 

 shuts 75 at night, and, beginning to open towards sun-rise, 

 appears in full blow by mid-day ; the natives are in the habit 

 of saying that in this way it goes to sleep. The same island 

 bears also the palm, the olive, the vine, and the fig, with 

 various other kinds of fruit. None of the trees in this island 

 lose their leaves ; 76 it is abundantly watered by cool streams, 

 and receives the benefit of rain. 



72 " Cotonei." To this resemblance of its fruit to the quince, the cotton- 

 tree, which is here alluded to, not improbably owes its modern name. 



73 The cotton-tree, or Gossypium arboreum of Linnaeus. It is worthy 

 of remark, tbat Pliny copies here almost literally from Theophrastus. Ac- 

 cording to Philostratus, the byssus, or fine tissues worn by the Egyptian 

 priests, were made of cotton. 



71 The Malthiola incana. 



75 Fee suggests that this may be a Magnolia ; but, as he remarks, most 

 plants open and shut at certain hours ; consequently, this cannot be re- 

 garded as any peculiar characteristic, sufficient to lead with certainty to 

 its identification. 



76 Theophrastus, from whom our author is copying, says that this is the 

 case only with the fig-tree there. 



