120 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



elusive of lace, patent net, sewing -thread, 

 stockings, and other cotton goods not entered 

 by the yard, included in the above amount, for 

 1848, was upwards of 1,046,000,000 of yards, 

 which would reach to the moon and back again, 

 and then leave enough to form a band almost 

 all round the earth. These facts will give some 

 faint idea of the vast extent and importance of 

 this branch of our manufactures and commerce. 

 Our principal supply of cotton is from America 

 and Bengal, but the East Indies and Egypt also 

 contribute greatly to the importation. A large 

 portion of the textures manufactured from it is 

 reconveyed to the countries which originally 

 furnished it. When machinery was first in- 

 troduced into the cotton manufacture, it was 

 made capable of spinning one pound of cotton 

 into yarn one hundred and sixty miles long, 

 arid a much greater degree of fineness may now 

 be obtained. The hand-spinners and weavers 

 in India far outdo machinery in the delicacy of 

 their fabrics, some of their muslins being ex- 

 pressively termed " woven air;" but so great 

 is the saving effected by machinery in the pro- 

 duction of all other kinds of cotton fabrics, that 

 a large portion of those used in India are ex- 

 ported from Britain, it being a saving of ex- 

 pense to cause the materials thus to undergo 

 the double voyage, though labour in India is 

 so extremely cheap. % 



The climate of the Himalayan Mountains, as, 

 for instance, about Delhi, is in summer quite 

 tropical, so that almost all the fruits of the 



