COTTON PLANT. ORDER BOMBACE.E. 387 



trifling supply required was obtained wholly from Smyrna and 

 Cyprus. In the year 1786, about 20 million pounds were im- 

 ported ; of which about a quarter was from Smyrna, &c., an- 

 other quarter from the British West Indies, and the remainder 

 from other colonies. Shortly after that period, when machines 

 for spinning cotton-yarn were devised by Arkwright and others, 

 the annual consumption of cotton increased six-fold, and it has 

 been progressively augmenting ever since. From all quarters of 

 the world does the raw material now flow in upon us ; and it is 

 converted, with an expedition scarcely credible, into textures, of 

 which a large part are re-conveyed to the countries which ori- 

 ginally furnished it. In the year 1838, the quantity imported 

 was upwards of 500 millions of pounds ; whilst of this there was 

 exported in the form of woven stuffs nearly 700 million yards, 

 and of twist and yarn about 115 million pounds; the value of 

 which, together with that of the cotton hosiery and small wares 

 exported, would amount to about twenty-four millions sterling. 

 When machinery was first introduced, it was made capable of 

 spinning a pound of cotton into yarn 160 miles long ; and a 

 much greater degree of fineness may now be attained. The 

 hand-spinners and weavers in India far outdo machinery in the 

 delicacy of their fabrics, some of their muslins being expressively 

 termed "woven air;" but so great is the saving effected by 

 machinery, in the production of all cotton fabrics but such as 

 these, that a large proportion of those used in India are ex- 

 ported from Britain ; it being a saving of expense to cause the 

 materials thus to undergo the double voyage, although labour is 

 so extremely cheap in India. 



552. Nearly allied to the order Malvaceae, which contains 

 few save herbaceous or shrubby plants, is the order BOMBACE^E, 

 or Silk-cotton tribe, none of which are herbaceous, whilst some 

 species are amongst the most remarkable examples of arboreal 

 vegetation, such as the celebrated Baobab trees of Senegal. 

 (. 129). One of the trunks of this species has been found to be 

 of the enormous girth of from 90 to 100 feet ; the spread of the 

 branches and roots is enormous ; one main root, uncovered by a 

 stream, having been traced to 100 feet from the stem, and pro- 



