270 



SPINNING AND WEAVING. 



Chap. XX. 



skirted both sides of our path, and the fine level road was 

 adorned with a beautiful red flower named Bolcaniaria. The 

 markets or sleeping-places were well supplied with provisions 

 by great numbers of women, every one of whom came spinning 

 cotton with a spindle and distaff, exactly like those used by 

 the ancient Egyptians. A woman is seldom seen going to 

 the fields without being engaged in this employment at the 

 same time that she carries a pot on her head, a child on her 

 back, and a hoe over her shoulder. The cotton was brought 

 to market for sale, and I bought a pound for a penny, which 

 was probably double the price they ask from each other. We 

 saw the cotton growing luxuriantly all around the market- 

 places and the native huts, from seeds dropped accidentally • 

 so far as I could learn, it was the A.merican cotton rendered 

 perennial by the influence of the climate. We met in the road 

 natives passing with bundles of cops, or spindles full of cotton- 



Ancient Spinning and Weaving. From Wilkinson's 'Ancient Egyptians,' ii. 85, 86. 



