20 COTTON IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. 



CHAP, behind in a continuous web. If the woman cleans this 



_J wool with her hands, picking away all the dirt, pieces of 



leaf, stray seeds, smashed seeds, and other objectionable 

 trash, she produces after a great expense of time and labour, 

 a wool which is easily spun into clothing for the family, 

 whilst the seed is used as food for the cattle. 



25 The Native Chuirka. The foot roller however has al- 

 most vanished from the Madras Presidency, and the machine 

 now in general use is the Churka. This simple implement 

 is only one step in advance of the foot roller. It consists 

 of two rollers set in a wooden frame, with a small interval 

 between them. These are turned with an ordinary handle, 

 the motion of one being communicated to the other by a sort 

 of endless screw. The Cotton is passed between these rol- 

 lers, and the staple is thus separated from the seed ; bub the 

 wool is turned out in a matted state, with the fibres 



Letter of all lying confused in different directions, so as to give a great 

 Munro and deal of trouble to English carders. Moreover the wool is 

 cardinsand mixed up with all the dirty bits of leaf and seed already in- 

 Masters, dicated. The Natives however can completely clean it by 



9th Febru / / 



p?ri. 18 Re- ^ e laborious process of hand picking, and they appear to 

 g U aU857)T. resort to this process for home consumption ; but for ex- 

 portation, they seem to content themselves with beating 

 it with sticks on rattan frames, of which an amusing account 

 will be found in para 177. 



26 The American Saw Gin. The American Saw Gin is 

 a totally different machine, and is the result of capital, in- 

 genuity, and enterprise. It both separates the Cotton from 

 the seed, and cleans the staple. It consists of a number of 

 thin wheels, the edges of which are cogged or toothed ; but 

 perhaps the term " sawed" is more expressive, as the teeth 

 are sharp, pointed downwards, and act like a saw. These 

 circular saws are to separate the Cotton wool from the seed. 

 The larger gins contain sixty circular saws, which are turned 



