COTTON 15 



USE IN EGYPT AND INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE BY 

 THE MOORS 



As to the culture and use of cotton by the ancient 

 Egyptians, there are differences of opinion among 

 the doctors; but the weight of evidence indicates its 

 use to a limited extent. 



Into Europe the cotton plant was brought a thou- 

 sand years ago, the Moors having introduced its cul- 

 ture in Spain "when the caliphate of Cordova was 

 at the height of its power and magnificence." But 

 the Spanish Christians looked with such disfavor on 

 everything having to do with the Moors, or gave 

 so little attention to it, that it was long before cot- 

 ton found favor in the eyes of the Pope's subjects. 

 In the fourteenth century it was at last given a 

 chance to rejoice beneath the sunny Italian skies, 

 and from there its culture spread to France and 

 Greece. 



FOUND IN THE NEW WORLD 



In the New World cotton has been grown and 

 used from the dateless past certainly in clothing 

 Peruvian mummies which had slept the sleep of 

 death for centuries even before Pizarro came to 

 disturb the dreams of the Incas; and among the 

 treasures which Cortez wrested from the Mexican 

 Montezuma and sent to Charles V. were "exquisite 

 cotton fabrics dyed in various colors." In the West 

 Indies especially cotton has always flourished. 



"In a word," says Mr. R. B. Handy, "everywhere 

 between the parallels of 40 north latitude and 40 

 south latitude, with the exception of our 

 present American 'Cotton Belt,' cotton, either in 



