184647.] MR. FINNIE ON INDIAN COTTON TRADE. 127 



a living profit. This system may be thus described. The C **A.P. 



rotten Cotton seed, which had been thrown on one side lest L. 



it should choke the churka, is beaten with a stone to loosen 

 the fibre from the seed, and then passed through the churka. 

 Then the good Cotton and the bad Cotton are both taken 

 into a little room six feet by six, which is entered by a 

 low door about a foot and a half high and two feet wide, and 

 ventilated at a little hole through the outer wall. The ob- 

 ject in view is to thoroughly mix the good and bad fibre to- 

 gether. Accordingly, two men go into this little dungeon, 

 with a bundle of long smooth rods in each hand. Each man 

 ties a cloth over his mouth and nose, to prevent his inhaling 

 the flying fibres of Cotton ; and one man places his back 

 against the little door so as to prevent any waste. Then 

 they both set to work and whip the Cotton with their rods, 

 in order to mix the bad and good so thoroughly together 

 that a very tolerable article is turned out. If, after all this 

 "bedevilling," the Broker can get a living price for his arti- 

 cle, he delivers it to the Chitty just as it is, with the addi- 

 tion of only a few seeds. Usually however, he is shaved 

 so close as to be driven to resort to other means to realize 

 a profit. Accordingly he adds a handful or two of seed to 

 every bundle, or lets it get in by accident ; and in this state 

 the Cotton is finally delivered to the Chitty.* 



The Chitty: tricks played with the European 178 

 Agents. Nothing now remained but for the Chitty to pass 

 off the Cotton upon the European Agent at the Coast. It is 

 usually the custom for the Chitty to make a contract with 



* A curious instance of adulteration is recorded by Dr. Wight. On one 

 occasion he had several bales of damaged American C otton, which he did 

 not think worth the cost of sending home ; and accordingly he offered it for 

 sale in Coimbatore. To his surprise the Cotton was immediately purchased 

 at the high figure of fifty rupees per candy. Subsequently he learnt that 

 this American Cotton was purchased for the purpose of mixing it with some 

 inferior very short stapled Native Cotton ; its long staple enabling the 

 dealer to pass off the whole at full prices as Cotton of the first sort. Parl. 

 Return (1857) p. 295. 



