h the cotton seeds were placed, and as to the distances to which
these rows were set. According to Dr. Royle, however, reference is made
to cotton in the "Sacred Institutes of Manu" so frequently that the
conclusion is admitted that cotton must have been in frequent use in
India at that time, which was 800 B.C.

As was to be expected, Persia very early had cottons and calicoes
imported from India. In the sixth verse of the first chapter of Esther
definite reference is made to the use to which cotton was put at the
feasts which King Ahasuerus gave about 519 B.C. "White, green, and blue
hangings" are said to have been used on this occasion, and from
authorities who have specially investigated this subject, we are told
that the hangings mentioned were simply white and blue striped cottons.
This would also confirm the statement that dyeing is one of the oldest
industries we have.

It appears that the Greeks and Romans in good time learned to value
goods made of cotton, and soon followed the Oriental custom of erecting
awnings or coverings for protection from the sun's rays. The Emperor
Caesar is said to have constructed a huge screen extending from his own
residence along the Sacred Way to the top of the Capitoline Hill. The
whole of the Roman Forum was also covered in by him in a similar way.
Coverings for tents, sail cloth made from cotton, and fancy coverlets
were also in use among the people of these stirring times.

And now comes the important question: Was cotton indigenous to India in
these very early times? and was it carried and afterwards planted in
Egypt, Africa, and America?

As an attempt is made to successfully answer this question, our minds
are thrown back to the time when Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, having
heard of India, desired to find a new way to that country. Comparatively
poor himself, he was unable to equip an expedition, and laid his scheme
before the Council of Genoa. They declined to have anything to do with
it, and he is found next presenting his case to the King of Portugal.
Here he alike failed, and he ultimately applied to the King and Queen of
Spain, when he met with success.

The 3rd of August, 1492, found him fully equipped with two ships, and on
his way west to find a new way to India. He first touched the Bahamas
thirty days after setting sail from Europe, and to his astonishment he
was met by the natives, who came out to meet him in canoes, bringing
with them cotton yarn and th