July 11, 2026
COTTON-PLANT
The Cotton-plant (Gossypium) was first cultivated in the East, whence were procured the finest muslins (so named from Mosul, in Mesopotamia, where it was first made), calico (from Calicut, in India), and Nankeen (from Nankin, in China, where the yellow Cotton-plants grow). Now the Cotton-plant gives employment to millions of people, sends thousands of ships across the sea, and binds together the two great Anglo-Saxon nations. Although so useful, the Cotton is not one of the sacred plants of India: in an Indian poem, however, the plant is noticed favourably:—“We love the fruits of the Cotton because, although tasteless, they have the property of concealing that which ought to be concealed” (in allusion to the use of cotton as clothing). The Khonds, whenever founding a new settlement, always plant first a Cotton-plant, which they hold sacred and religiously preserve.
M. Agassiz, in his work on Brazil, recounts a strange legend respecting the Gossypium Brazilianum. Caro Sacaibu, the first of men, was a demi-god. His son, Rairu, an inferior being, obeyed the instructions of his father, who, however, did not love him. To get rid of him, Sacaibu constructed an armadillo, and buried it in the earth, leaving visible only the tail, rubbed with Mistletoe. Then he ordered his son to bring him the armadillo. Rairu obeyed, but scarcely had he touched the tail, when, aided by Sacaibu, it dragged Rairu to the bottom of the earth. But thanks to his wit, Rairu contrived to make his way to the surface again, and told Sacaibu that in the subterranean regions lived a race of men and women, who, if transported to earth, would cultivate it. Sacaibu allowed himself to be convinced of this, and accordingly descended in his turn to the bottom of the earth by the aid of a rope composed of Cotton, which he had sown for the first time on the occasion. The first men brought to earth by means of Sacaibu’s rope were small and ugly, but the more rope he pulled up, the handsomer became the men, until just as he was about to pull out the handsomest the Cotton rope broke, and the brightest specimens of humanity were doomed for ever to remain in the bowels of mother earth. That is the reason why, in this earth of ours, beauty is so scarce.