COTTON. 29 



the cultivation of the cotton-plant had been intro- 

 duced with success into the southern parts of Spain, 

 by Mr. Kirkpatrick, while acting; as consul for the 

 United States of America at Malaga. The environs 

 of the village of Churriana, at the foot of La Sierra de 

 Mijas, which before had been an uncultivated waste, 

 was converted by him into a flourishing cotton plan- 

 tation. Success in this apparently unpromising situa- 

 tion, caused the cultivation of the plant to be quickly 

 extended from Motril to Almeria, along the coast of 

 the Mediterranean sea ; and the pursuit has become 

 at once a beneficial employment for native industry, 

 arid a source of considerable foreign commerce. 



When the French armies occupied the southern 

 parts of Spain, in 1810, the exportation of cotton 

 was so considerable as to lead the French govern- 

 ment to suspect that the whole of that which went 

 under the name of Spanish cotton was not the pro- 

 duce of Spain. Orders were therefore received by 

 the military authorities to institute inquiries concern- 

 ing the cotton plantations at Malaga, and to ascertain 

 the quantity which these actually furnished. 



Restricted in the exportation of his produce, the 

 indefatigable Kirkpatrick transferred his energies to 

 the erection of spinning factories, and 3,000 work- 

 men were soon employed in a village, which only a 

 few years before had been a miserable hamlet. But 

 popular commotions, and the occupation by hostile 

 troops, were not favourable to the continued pros- 

 perity of the peaceful arts; and so soon as the 

 French troops had evacuated this part of Spain, the 

 prejudiced populace, either instigated by a blind 

 fury, or more probably incited by the agents of those 

 who criminally indulged in political animosities, not 

 only destroyed the factories, but even tore up the 

 cotton plants, and thus, to all appearance, entirely 



