PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR SEEDS. 407 



call gossipion and others xylon, whence the fiame 

 xylina given to the threads obtained from it. It is low- 

 growing, and bears a fruit like that of the bearded 

 nut, and from the interior of this is taken a wool for 

 weaving. None is comparable to this in softness and 

 whiteness." Pliny adds, "The cloth made from it is 

 used by preference for the dress of the Egyptian priests." 

 Perhaps the cotton destined to this purpose was sent 

 from Upper Egypt, or perhaps the author, who had 

 not seen the fabrication, and did not possess a micro- 

 scope, was mistaken in the nature of the sacerdotal 

 raiment, as were our contemporaries who handled the 

 grave-cloths of hundreds of mummies before suspecting 

 that they were not cotton. Among the Jews, the 

 priestly robes were commanded to be of linen, and it 

 is not likely that their custom was different to that 

 of the Egyptians. 



Pollux,^ born in Egypt a century later than Pliny, 

 expresses himself clearly about the cotton plant, of which 

 the thread was used by his countrymen ; but he does not 

 say whence the shrub came, and we cannot tell whether 

 it was Gossyinitm arhoreum or G. herhaceuni. It does 

 not even appear whether the plant was cultivated in 

 Lower Egypt, or if the cotton came from the more 

 southern region. In spite of these doubts, it may be 

 suspected that a cotton plant, probably that of Upper 

 Egypt, had recently been introduced into the Delta. The 

 species which Prosper Alpin had seen cultivated in 

 Egypt in the sixteenth century was the tree-cotton. The 

 Arabs, and afterwards Europeans, preferred and trans- 

 ported into different countries the herbaceous cotton 

 rather than the tree-cotton, which yields a poorer product 

 and requires more heat. 



Regarding the two cottons of the old world, I have 

 made as little use as possible of arguments based upon 

 Greek names, such as jSuo-aoc, (tlv^ov, ^vXov, OOojv, etc., 

 or Sanskrit names, and their derivatives, as carhasa, 

 carpas, or Hebrew names, schesch, huz, which are doubt- 

 fully attributed to the cotton tree. This has been a 



* Pollux, Onomasticon, quoted by C. Ritter, iibi supra, p. 26. 



