COTTON. 27 



storehouse for those two kinds of merchandize, not 

 of Hindostan only, but of all the neighbouring king- 

 doms, and even of Europe. I have been sometimes 

 amazed at the vast quantity of cotton cloths of every 

 sort, fine and coarse, white arid coloured, which the 

 Dutch alone export to different places, especially to 

 Japan and Europe. The English, the Portuguese, 

 and the native merchants, deal also in these articles 

 to a considerable extent*.'' 



The first importation of raw cotton from the East 

 Indies into England did not take place until the 

 year 1798, and it was not even then imported by the 

 chartered company, but by privileged merchants. 

 The first cargo of this material which was brought 

 to London was valued in India at ,10,000, and it 

 cleared the large sum of ,50,000, having been sold 

 at 2s. 2d. per Ib. During the following year the 

 price fell to lOd. ; and the cotton of India is now 

 the lowest priced that is brought to the English 

 market. It can at present be purchased at 6d. to 

 7jd. per Ib., while the best cotton from Georgia 

 commands from Is. 4^d. to Is. 6d. perlb. Notwith- 

 standing this very low price of East-India cotton, a 

 considerable quantity is still annually shipped to this 

 country, where, in 1832, more than 35,000,000 Ibs. 

 were retained for home consumption. 



During the late war, when it was the policy of 

 the French ruler to render his country independent 

 of foreign commerce, efforts were made by him to 

 introduce the cultivation of cotton into Italy, Corsica, 

 and some of the southern parts of France. The 

 attempt was attended by partial success, as long 

 as other supplies were cut off; but as soon as the 

 cessation of warfare happily restored freedom to 

 commerce; the culture of cotton was gradually 

 abandoned, since the product obtained could not at 

 * Travels in the Mogul Empire. 



