THE COTTON PLANT. 13 



" calicuts " l that lie saw were " so fine that you 

 could hardly feel them in your hand." The Rev. 

 William Ward goes further yet, and describes a 

 fabric " so exceeding fine that when laid on the 



FIG. I. GOSSYPIUM BARBADENSE (Royle). 



grass and the dew has fallen on it, it is no longer 

 discernible." The looms from which these mar- 

 vellous webs emerged were of the most primitive 

 sort; yet when they disappeared, under the ad- 



1 Calicut was a town on the Malabar coast, whence cotton cloth was 

 imported. Our word calico is a corruption of the name. 



