206 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. XII. 
their backs, receiving the deposits of cotton, and bearing 
it home to the houses, evidently aware that they too are 
working for the general good. 
However fine the crop may be, the Chinese are never 
sure of it until it is actually gathered in. Much depends 
upon a dry autumn, for, if the weather is wet after the 
pods begin to burst, they drop amongst the muddy soil, 
and are consequently much injured, if not completely 
destroyed. When the cotton reaches the farmyard, it is 
daily spread out on hurdles raised about four feet from 
the ground, and fully exposed to the sun. As the object 
is to get rid of all the moisture, it is of course only put 
out in fine weather, and is always taken into the house 
or barn in the evening. When perfectly dry, the pro- 
cess of separating it from the seeds commences. This is 
done by the well-known wheel with two rollers, which, 
when turned round, draws or sucks in the cotton, and 
rejects the seeds. It is a simple and beautiful con- 
trivance, and answers well the end for which it is 
designed. The cotton is now sent to market, and 
a portion of the seeds are . reserved for the next year's 
crop. 
Early in the fine autumnal mornings the roads lead- 
ing into Shanghae are crowded with bands of coolies 
from the cotton-farms, each with his bamboo across his 
shoulders and a large sack of cotton swung from each 
end. With these they hurry into the town, for the pur- 
pose of disposing of them to the merchants, who have 
numerous warehouses from which they send the cotton 
to the other provinces of the empire. These coolies or 
small farmers — for many of them bring their own produce 
