304 



WILD AND CULTIVATED COTTONS 



Wild 

 species. 



Manufac- 

 turers in 

 Mexico. 



South 



American 



Cotton. 



stated, that cotton cultivation and manufacture have a vast antiquity 

 both in Brazil and Peru. While that is so, it is a curious accident 

 that no sample of the plant exists, in the Herbaria examined by me, 

 that bears a label stating that it had been found anywhere in the 

 American Continent, in a wild or even acclimatised state. But as 

 indicated in the paragraph that gives the vernacular names of this 

 species, Branner mentions two indigenous and one exotic cotton as met 

 with in Brazil ; one of the former is undoubtedly the present plant. 



Sloane's ' Catalogue of the Plants of the Island of Jamaica,' 1696, 

 pp. 156-9, and his subsequent work, the 'Natural History of Jamaica,' 

 1725, ii. pp. 68-72, will be found to enumerate all the more trustworthy 

 authors on cotton. But let it be remembered the older writers hardly 

 ever distinguished the various species, except by the occasional 

 remark that the seeds are conglomerated into a kidney mass, or the 

 seeds are black and naked, or, again, the seeds have a fuzzy coat. 

 The authors who can be accepted as affording botanical evidence 

 have already been mentioned. Some of the more interesting popular 

 works of travel or reports on cultivation may now be indicated. 

 Oviedo (' Hist. Nat. Ind.,' vol. i. p. 370 PL del Algodon lib. 10, 

 ch. 5) found cotton in Saint Domingo (see also ' Summary ' by Eden, 

 pp. 205, 221) indigenous and very abundant. Joseph de Acosta 

 (1518) describes the hammocks made of cotton that he saw being 

 used in the valley of the Amazons. Hakluyt (' Voy., Traffiq.,' &c., 

 published 1809-12) gives the accounts of many travellers : For 

 example, vol. v. gives Peter Martyr's ' Decades ' (written 1516) 

 a history of the discovery of America, where frequent mention is 

 made of cotton (gossampine) (pp. 170, 189, 192) growing like 

 willows ; vol. in. pp. 542, 545, deals with John Chilton, who visited 

 New Spain and the West Indies in 1561, and speaks of the Mexicans 

 making fine cotton cloth (linen). Hawks (1572, I.e. p. 553) makes 

 a similar observation. Speaking of Guiana, Masham (Lc. iv., p. 195) 

 mentions great store of fine cotton made into ' excellent good fustians 

 or stockings.' Purchas (' His Pilg.,' iv., 1625) republishes the passages 

 by Carder (p. 1,189), Sparrey (p. 1,248), Wilson (p. 1,264), Turner 

 (1,265), Eobert Harcourt (p. 1,275), Schnirdel (p. 1,351), and many 

 others, each contributing some little item of interest. 



Azara (' Voyages,' 1790, especially the article written by Tadeo 

 Heenke in App. to vol. n. p. 530) will be found of special interest. 

 He tells us that the tropical parts of South America, especially 

 Cochabamba, produce cotton in abundance and of good quality. He 



