('OTrON-SPINNING 287 



a hammock. We were able to observe the operation, 

 which lasted a week and afforded Jacobson opportunities 

 of taking photographs of the process at different times. 

 The cotton having been freed from seeds is roughly 

 pulled into loose bands, the ends of which are stuck to 

 other similar bands by pinching them together so as to 

 form a longer band. This is wound loosely round the 

 wrist of the left arm and then the first part of the 

 operation of spinning is performed. The spindles used 

 are the simplest of simple affairs. A thin round stick 

 made of hard wood, with a disc placed about three inches 

 from one end, that is the whole apparatus. The woman 

 squats on her haunches with one of these spindles on the 

 right, and she wraps the cotton on it as fast as she has 

 made it into a rough sort of twine by rubbing it between 

 the palm of her hand and her thigh. When the spindle 

 has got as much cotton as it will hold, its contents arc 

 twirled on to a second spindle, the woman in this case 

 lying in her hammock with one end of the spindle, which 

 she turns rapidly round with the finger and thumb, placed 

 between two of her toes. By passing the cotton in this 

 manner from spindle to spindle several times a thinner, 

 stronger, and more regular thread is obtained, but for the 

 making of hammocks two spinnings are usually con- 

 sidered sufficient. The cotton-twine is rolled up into a 

 big ball, which is beaten from time to time with a little 

 round club of hard wood. From long experience these 

 people can tell by looking at a ball whether it contains 

 sufficient twine to make a hammock. Two poles are now 

 planted in the mud-floor of the hut, at a distance of from 

 five to six feet, and the actual making of the hammock is 

 begun. The woman walks round and round the poles 

 with the big ball of cotton in her hands, and as she goes 



