438 CULTIVATION OF COTTON. Lords, 1830*, correctly observed, that a red soil is not suited to the cultivation of cotton, which flourishes best in a rich black loam, such as that of Egypt. Others, however, imagine the contrary t; but their opinion is of less weight, being founded on a very limited experience in Brazil; where the soil, near the sea, is extremely arid, consisting chiefly of sand and shells. From the same cause, it has been concluded that no land is well suited to this species of cultivation, but such as is covered with timber, which may be cut down and burned for manure. But Egypt, where there is no timber, produces, after the Sea Island and Santu, the best cotton in the world. The finest cotton in India is produced in the province of Dacca, within twenty miles of the sea: the same thing may likewise be observed of that grown in the Isle of Bourbon, in China, and in Sea Island. Hence it has been inferred, by Mr. Crawford ‡, that the vicinity of the sea is indispensable to the production of fine long-stapled cotton. But this opinion is unfounded. In Brazil, as Mr. Carruthers observes, the cotton of the interior is superior to that grown on the coast; and in Egypt, where, perhaps, the experiment has been more fairly tried, the cotton of the upper provinces, several hundred miles from the sea, is superior to that of the Delta. A remark of more general application is, that the warm countries near the line are best adapted to this species of * Report from the Lords, July 1830, folio, CULTIVATION OF COTTON. 439 produce; the cotton found in countries too far north or south being coarse and woolly. In Pernambuco, where the best Brazilian cotton is found, the seed is sown in March, at rather wide intervals. The plant bears the first season, and still better the second; but the produce of the third year is inferior, and after this it is entirely abandoned. The fields are then left fallow, and fresh land is brought into cultivation. On the alluvial lands of the Mississippi, the whole labour consists in casting the seeds upon the ground. In the East, the annual cotton, usually sown as a second crop after rice, comes to perfection in four months, and is regarded as a very hardy plant. Cotton seed, of a very common sort, is eaten by cattle in India. The ordinary annual plant may, by care, be made to ratoon, or propagate by roots, and thus become perennial, or, at least, be made to bear during four or five years. DCLXXXIX. The Sea Island cotton, described by some as a perennial, by others as an annual plant*, is said to degenerate at the distance of twelve miles from the shore; but this is altogether incredible. It is the growth of Persian seed, introduced from the Bahama Islands in 1786. In 1791, five years after the first plantation was made, the article was introduced into commerce, the exports amounting to The same discrepancy is found in the accounts given by different individuals of the cotton plant of India, which some describe as an annual (Report, &c. p. 348.), others as bearing from ten to fifteen years. 440 PRICES OF COTTON. 19,200 lbs. Being found to excel all other cottons in the length and fineness of its staple, its cultivation was so much encouraged, that, in 1827, the quantity exported had increased to 294,310,115 lbs., value 29,359,545 dollars. At this period the comparative prices of cotton were:-Sea Island, 13 d. to 16d.; Egyptian, 8d. to 9d.; Pernambuco, 72d to 8 d. per lb. A small sample brought from New South Wales, was valued at 10d. In the year 1827, or 1828, a quantity of seed was procured from Sea Island, and sown in Egypt. Great care was bestowed on its growth, gathering, and packing: it was greatly improved both in quality and clearness; and the produce of the Sea Island seed is expected by the merchants to rival the Santu. All these cottons will work as well after being kept twenty years as when fresh gathered. The quantity of cotton exported by the Pasha varies considerably in different years, sometimes amounting to 130,000 bales per annum, and at other times not exceeding 90,000. Owing to the prevalence of a Khamsyn wind, in the summer, it was one year so low as 55,000 bales. In 1832, it did not exceed 102,000 bales, and, from various circumstances, was expected to fall short of that quantity in 1833. The price likewise greatly varies.* In the years 1830 Wrought cotton, which must frequently be regarded as absolutely spoiled, may be purchased at prices incredibly low. The average numbers of cotton-twists, from 10 to 40, are sold at 8 piastres per oke, of 44 ounces English, payable in assignats of the government, at twelve months' credit. My informant, himself a manufacturer, was assured, at the mills that, for ready money, 6, or even 5 piastres, per oke, would be taken; which, at the currency of the day, i. e. 96 piastres MERCHANTS OF ALEXANDRIA. 441 and 1831, it was 12 dollars the cantar (of 44 okes); in 1832, 10 dollars; but, in 1833, the Pasha requiring considerable sums for the carrying on of the Syrian war, raised the price to 15 dollars the cantar. The number of ships arriving annually in the port of Alexandria is liable to considerable fluctuation. In 1823, it amounted to 1,200, not including those of the Turks; but this was the greatest number ever known since then it has varied from 900 to 1000. DCXC. The principal merchants established at Alexandria are English, French, Italian, Greek, and Armenian; and by far the greater number endeavour, by every species of intrigue, to obtain the favour of the Pasha. Assiduous frequenters of the Divan, every look, word, or smile of their Pasha is subjected to an arithmetical calculation, to ascertain its value in piastres. The Turks being generally exceedingly to the pound sterling, is equal to 5§d. per pound, English. The price of the raw cotton, from which this is spun, is 6d. per pound. It is true that last year (1832) raw cotton was sold at 44d. per pound. This losing price is not submitted to for the purpose of encouraging domestic manufacture, but for exportation; no yarn being allowed to be used in the country beyond the Pasha's own establishments. When the manufactures accumulate in his Highness's warehouses, the shopkeepers are sent for, and compelled to take each a certain quantity at his own price. It would be absurd, however, to regard the manufactories of Egypt as a mere childish toy; no man in possession of his faculties would continue, without some intelligible motive, to weave and spin at a great loss, while enduring the most serious inconvenience from the insufficiency of his revenue to defray the ordinary expenses of government; we must therefore, attribute to his Highness views superior to those of mere gain, or the gratification of vanity. 442 CHARACTER OF THE MERCHANTS. susceptible of flattery, in which, like all other barbarians, they require neither art nor refinement, find a large fund of this commodity among the merchants. Of the English and French, indeed, and perhaps of the Italians, many preserve a becoming degree of dignity in their deportment; but the Greeks and Armenians, born in despotic countries, exhibit all that adoration of power and authority which invariably distinguishes base and servile souls; and having arrived, in their turn, at the possession of wealth and influence, they exercise towards their inferiors the same insolent contumely to which they themselves submitted when in comparative indigence: for vulgar minds regard it as an article of faith that riches are to be worshipped. Towards the Pasha they continue, whether rich or poor, to show the same humiliating reverence; kissing the fringe of the Divan on which he sits, and pretending, when he walks, to gather up the dust from beneath his feet. Here, therefore, the monarchical principle may be contemplated in all its naked beauty, divested of the manifold disguises cast over it, in Europe, by the sophistry of courtly manners. The result, however, is the same; the slaves thrive by their adulation, and console themselves, in odoriferous gardens, and well-filled harems, for the bitter potion to which they daily condemn themselves in the palace. |