REPORT. 



The importance of endeavouring to obtain a Report, 

 supply of good Cotton- wool from the East-Indies, 

 for the use of the Manufacturers of Great Britain, 

 appears to have become a subject of public atten- 

 tion about the latter part of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury. The great inventions which had taken place, 

 and the improvements which had been effected in 

 the various kinds of machinery for spinning and 

 weaving, as well as in the arts of bleaching and 

 calico-printing, from the first introduction of Ark- 

 wright's patent spinning-machine in 1769 to the 

 establishment of the factory system about the 

 year 1785, occasioned a constantly increasing de- 

 mand for the raw material, and increased means 

 of supplying it were consequently sought.* 



The 



* The rise, progress, and state of the culture and manufacture 

 of cotton, may be seen in several modern publications ; particu- 

 larly 



a 2 



