8 COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 



Pollux, are mere marginal notes of the original made in the 14th 

 century. 



The Romans of the 2nd century found cotton garments in use all 

 over Egypt. The wearing of cotton garments made from indigenous 

 or foreign cotton has remained a continual custom through all the 

 changes of time. The cultivation of cotton in Egypt has also been 

 uninterruptedly carried on since ancient times, and has become more 

 or less extended under the various reigns, although the historical 

 reports may not mention the cotton-growing industry. 



As in other Mediterranean countries, the appearance of the Arabs 

 in Egypt, who were the carriers of civilisation at the time of the 

 Middle Ages, gave a new impetus to the cultivation of cotton ; at the 

 time of Mohammed even cotton garments were quite in common use 

 in Arabia. We find that the Arabian word for cotton, " El Kotn," 

 is the stem of the name which the Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, 

 French, and the English use for this new product. Raw cotton and 

 cotton goods had already become articles of Mediterranean com- 

 merce from Egypt in the Middle Ages at the time of the Crusades. 

 Although the cultivation and the working of Egyptian cotton had 

 already attained a greater extension for part of the raw cotton, yarn 

 and cloth, which was exported from Alexandria, had its origin in the 

 Levant and India, to which countries Egypt was indebted for the 

 best part of her requirements. In Europe cotton was looked upon 

 as an article of luxury until far into the Middle Ages. 



In several books of the 16th century it was distinctly stated that 

 the cotton plant was rare in Egypt, and at the time served only as 

 an ornamental shrub in the gardens. This can hardly refer to the 

 whole of Egypt. Unfortunately, our knowledge of Egypt at this 

 time of the Turkish Conquest is very limited. A Mohammedan 

 writer of the 17th century describes Damanhur as the chief place of 

 Egyptian cotton cultivation, Rosetta and Alexandria as the weaving 

 centres, and from the commercial reports of Marseilles and other 

 ports it is certain that raw cotton, cotton yarn, and cloth from 

 Alexandria were regularly imported up to the end of the 18th 

 century. 



The French scholars who accompanied the Expedition of Bona- 

 parte to Egypt gave us at last the account of the mysterious Egypt. 

 They stated that the cotton cultivation, although carried on in a 

 careless way, was of considerable importance, and that there existed 

 in conjunction a very remunerative trade in cotton, and that cotton 

 was being manufactured in Egypt. The cultivation of cotton was in 

 existence over the whole of Upper Egypt, especially in the Province 

 of Thebes, but generally all over the Delta. Up to 1820 we read in 

 the French records was only grown the so-called " Belledi Cotton,'* 

 a coarse, short-fibred cotton, similar to that of the Indian Surat, 

 which was very negligently handled, and never exported in its raw 

 state. During the beginning of the 19th century the Levant (Syria 

 and Asia Minor) were producing a superior quality of cotton, and 

 became the chief suppliers of cotton to the world. 



Egyptian cotton cultivation underwent a sudden development 

 under the enterprising Mohammed Ali (1805 to 1848), to whom the 

 Egyptians owe so much, and this extension was really due to an 

 accident. 



