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Chapter III. 



GENERAL REMARKS ON BRAZILIAN COTTON 



Several explorers soon after the discovery of Brazil report that 

 the Indians in various parts were making different articles of cotton, 

 and it is therefore to be assumed that cotton is an indigenous plant 

 in several Brazilian States : some of these articles we saw in the 

 National Museum at Rio de Janeiro. A further reason whv one 



Ganga 



or Wild Cotton from the stony mountain tops in the 

 Serido District 



must come to the conclusion that cotton is indigenous to Brazil is 

 that a wild species, known as '" ganga," or "Algodao Sylvestre," is 

 even to-day found on some desolate mountains. One farmer in the 

 Serido district of Rio Grande do Norte sent a man to the top of the 

 mountain to bring down for our inspection one of these mid growing 

 cotton trees, the fibre of which is never gathered because the plants 



