158 



COTTON-WOOL. 



Bir. Tucker's Eastem cottoD as a natural production, the greater 

 degree of strength and durability of the fabrics 

 made from it may be referred, perhaps, to the 

 following circumstances. 



First. The thread spun with care by the hand 

 is probably more perfect. 



Second. The operations of the loom, when con- 

 ducted carefully by the hand, are not so liable to 

 injure the fibre as the process carried on by 

 machinery. 



Third. The process of blanching the brow^n 

 web is effected in India by steam and the solar 

 ray, and the texture of the fabric is not liable to 

 be injured by the use of muriatic acid or other 

 chemical solvents. 



Fourth. The fabric, for the purpose of being 

 rendered more even and beautiful, is not exposed 

 to the very delicate operation of singeing off the 

 ends of the thread and other excrescences. 



Fifth. The raw material is not economized in 

 our Eastern manufactures in any way to diminish 

 the firmness and strength of the texture. 



6. The Bairati kupas, the finest variety, per- 

 haps, of the Eastern cotton, is produced only in 

 small quantity in the districts north-west of Dacca, 

 and is never exported, I believe, as an article of 

 commerce. Its favourite site seems to be the 

 high banks of the Ganges (or as it is called in a 

 part of its course, the Pudnah), and its tributary 

 streams ; but as the country adjacent is liable to 



annual 



