HOMESPUN COTTON. 313 



and masters had gone to the market, with the usual 

 industry characteristic of the women of Shoa, 

 they sat down upon the floor, and chatting away, 

 commenced spinning cotton ; for I had made up my 

 mind to have a cloth woven at home, from the 

 first operation of cleaning the cotton, to the weaving 

 of the last bit of shumlah, in the ornamented 

 extremity of the tobe. Walderheros had entered 

 into the spirit of my wish, and had already 

 exchanged some grain, which we did not require, 

 for a quantity of raw cotton, as it is taken from 

 the pods of the plant; in which state it is full 

 of seeds, and other substances, that have to be 

 separated by a simple process of cleansing I shall 

 describe in another place. He had now gone to 

 market upon the same business, to purchase more 

 of the raw material, the value of three ahmulahs, 

 or about thirty pound weight of cotton, being 

 considered as sufficient for a cloth about eight yards 

 long, and one cubit broad. 



