COTTON. 173 



the curtains found at Nineveh by Dr. Layard, and which 

 fell to pieces when touched, were also of cotton. 



Herodotus describes the celebrated cuirass which the 

 King of Egypt Amassis sent to Sparta, already mentioned 

 in the article on Flax, as adorned " with gold and with 

 fleeces from trees." " Theophrastus describes the trees from 

 which the Indians made cloths, as ' having a leaf like that of 

 the black mulberry, the whole plant resembling the dog-rose. 

 They set them in the plains arranged in rows, so as to look 

 like vines at a distance/ Nearchus described the natives as 

 having garments made with this tree-wool, ' which reached 

 to the middle of the leg, a sheet folded about the shoulders, 

 and a turban rolled round the head/ a description which 

 would apply to many of them in the present day." 



Arrian, a merchant and an author, probably of the second 

 century, is the first who describes cotton goods as articles 

 of commerce brought by Arab merchants to Aduli, a port on 

 the Red Sea. That cotton clothing was also used by the 

 Greeks and Romans is most probable, and was signified by 

 the terms Jcarpason in the Greek, and carbasus or carbaswm 

 in the Latin. Mr. Yates, in his work ' Textrinum Anti- 

 quorum/ remarkable for its erudition, ch. i v p. 343, states 

 that the earliest notice he has found of the word carbasina 



