It is stated, however, to be specially used for the
manufacture of turbans, and for the Brahmanical thread, and probably
afforded the groundwork of the story told by Philostratus of the wild
cotton which was used only for the sacred vestments of the Brahmans, and
refused to lend itself to other uses. One of Royle's authorities (Mr.
Vaupell) mentions that it was grown near large towns of Eastern Guzerat,
and its wool regarded as the finest of any, and only used in delicate
muslins. Tod speaks of it in Bikanir, and this kind of cotton appears to
be grown also in China, as we gather from a passage in Amyot's Memoires
(II. 606), which speaks of the "Cotonniers arbres, qui ne devoient etre
fertiles qu'apres un bon nombre d'annees."
The height appears to have been a difficulty with Marsden, who refers to
the G. arboreum, but does not admit that it could be intended. Yet I see
in the English Cyclopaedia that to this species is assigned a height of
15 to 20 feet. Polo's six paces therefore, even if it means 30 feet as I
think, is not a great exaggeration. (Royle, Cult. of Cotton, 144, 145,
152; Eng. Cycl. art. Gossypium.)
NOTE 4. - Embroidered and Inlaid leather-work for bed-covers, palankin mats
and the like, is still a great manufacture in Rajkot and other places of
Kattiawar in Peninsular Guzerat, as well as in the adjoining region of
Sind.
