PERUVIAN COTTON IN INDIA. 9 
Piura and other northern valleys, being a variety of G. Barbadense ; and 
the other, some of which has been received from the Casma valley, with 
small seeds covered with a greenish-coloured fur, is a variety of G. ar- 
boreum. The plants are perennial, and were cultivated by the subjects 
of the Incas long before the discovery of Peru by the Spaniards. The 
ancient Peruvians irrigated their cotton-fields by means of channels 
conducted from the numerous lakes in the Andes, picked and cleaned 
the cotton, and wove it into cloths. The long strip of coast-line be- 
tween the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, consists of a sandy desert, tra- 
versed by some sixty streams and rivers, with as many fertile valleys 
on their banks, The climate of this region is very peculiar, rain is 
unknown, and the northern part especially is exposed to a long period 
of excessive dryness. The dry season extends from November to May, 
but in the middle of the latter month a veil of mist begins to spread 
over sea and shore, which continues till October. The Cotton-plants 
grow in very sandy soil, the cultivation depending entirely on the ex- 
tent of natural irrigation produced by the overflowing of the rivers be- 
tween November and May. The plants yield a crop every six months, 
and they continue to yield for ten years and upwards, but require irri- 
gation at frequent intervals. 
Here, then, was a cotton commanding a high price in the English 
market, with a staple exceeding in length any of the North American 
kinds, except the ** Sea Island," which nevertheless flourishes in a drier 
and equally hot climate to those of any of the indigenous Indian cotton 
districts, where the plant only yields a very short staple. It appeared 
to me very desirable that the plant should receive a trial in the dry and 
hot regions on the eastern side of the Madras Presidency, and also in 
Sind. In this view I was supported by the high authority of Dr. 
Wight, who expressed an opinion that it was in every way desirable 
that the Peruvian Cotton-plant should be extensively and perseveringly 
tried in the Carnatic, especially along the wide sandy flats bounding all 
the larger rivers and streams which intersect the country between the 
central ranges of hills and the coast. 
In August 1862, I obtained a supply of cotton seeds from the 
Peruvian coast valley of Piura, which was immediately forwarded to 
ras, Towards the end of the year a second instalment was re- 
ceived and forwarded, and in January, 1863, a third instalment E ' 
seeds from the valley of Casma was sent out. Subsequently, a fourth 
