COTTON. 101 



been found in the same latitude in America, 

 it confirms the opinion that most plants 

 spring spontaneously within a given distance 

 of the Poles, and that their varieties originate 

 from the nature of the soil, or accidental im- 

 pregnation from plants of a similar species. 



The Phoenicians, who were the fathers of 

 trade, and the Greeks, who were the sons of 

 art, would, from their intercourse with Egypt, 

 transplant the Gossypiurn to their own isles. 



Pliny says, in his Natural History*, that in 

 the higher parts of Egypt, towards Arabia, 

 there grows a shrub or bush that produces 

 cotton, which is called by some Gossypiurn, 

 and by others Xylon. He says, the plant is 

 small, and bears a fruit resembling the bearded 

 nut or filbert, out of the inner shell or husk 

 of which the downy cotton breaks forth, 

 which is easily spun, and is superior, for 

 whiteness and softness, to any flax in the 

 world. Of this cotton, he adds, the Egyptian 

 priests of old times delighted to have their 

 sacred robes made. This cloth was called 

 Xylina. The same author informs usf, that 

 in an island in the Persian gulf, there were 

 cotton-trees that produced fruit as large 



# Book xix. c. 1. f Book xii. c. 10 8c 11. 



VOL. I. M 



