136 
The Cotton Ready fob Market. 
The cotton, having passed through the cleaning process, is now ready for sale, and it is 
packed by the cultivator, and carried by him to market. It was in this process that, in 
old days, Indian cotton suffered considerably in character. Little care was taken in pack- 
ing it, and consequently the damage done by the weather, and by the dust and dirt that 
accumulated in transit, was generally considerable. The colIection contains specimens of 
the nets and bags in which the staple is packed, and models of the carts and sketches 
of the bullocks and camels by which the bags of cotton are carried to market. In former 
times, in consequence of the state of the roads, the traffic was chiefly carried on by 
bullocks,. on each of which a bhojah, or “ load ” of two bags, was slung, pannier-fashion, 
and carried thus for great distances. Although this means of transit is now but little 
used, the Word bhojah still remains in the name of the conventional weight by which 
cotton is sold. Of late years the state of the roads, and the state of the trade also, have 
been greatly improved. European agents are to be found established at all the chief 
cotton markets in the inferior of India, and as they pay a high price for cotton that has 
been well cleaned and carefully packed, much more attention is bestowed by the culti- 
vators on these important processes. In fact, the great improvement that can be claimed 
to have taken place in Indian cotton since the date of the Exhibition of 1862, is superior 
puiity, consequent on the manner in which it is now prepared for market and sent to 
England. It was at one time hoped that the staple might be much improved, and a 
greater length and fmeness obtained; but, as already mentioned, it would appear that the 
climate of. India militates agaiust success in this direction. Still, the improvement in the 
condition in .which Indian cotton is now brought to Europe is generally admitted, and is 
of no small importance. The circumstances to which this improvement is due are now 
to be noticed. 
The Cotton Markets in the Interior of India. 
In Mr. Kipling s very clever sketches, and in the series of photographs contributed by 
Mr. I itz-Gerald and Mr. Dunlop, the hon. secretaries respectively of the Bombay and 
Berar Committees for the Exhibition, a very accurate idea is given of the manner in 
which the trade is carried on in the interior of India, and at Bombay and Calcutta, where 
most of the cotton is sent for export. Space will not permit of the subject being dwelt 
upon at any length in this paper. But it is to be noted that the extension of railway 
communication has, of late years, quite revolutionised the trade. In old days, when the 
chief cotton markets in the interior were separated from the sea-board by three weeks’ 
journey over almost impassable roads, it was hardly to be expected that many European 
merchants would penetrate into the districts, and carry on business at out-of-the-way 
markets. The trade was then entirely in the hands of native dealers, and the cotton, 
beforeit reached Bombay, besides having to und ergo a long journey abross diflicult country 
and along indifferent roads, had to pass through the hands of many middlemen, whose 
interest in preserving it from dirt and damage was often small. The European merchant 
at the seaport was obliged to take what he could get. And this, as a rule, was cotton not 
inferior in staple to that which is produced in the present day, but which, from careless 
picking, bad.paeking, and too often from admixture with inferior cottons grown in other 
parts of India, was not fit for any but the most ordinary dass of work. The railways 
have now connected Bombay with Allahabad, Madras, Nagpore, Calcutta, and Lahore, 
and nearly all the cotton markets in India have been brought into easy communication 
with the most important ports of shipment. Heavy machinery (to transport which over 
the roads of the interior was formerly a physical impossibility) can now with ease be 
carried to any of the up-country markets. The introduction of machinery has of late 
years largely increased, and in addition to the steam machines for cleaning the cotton 
already noticed, there is hardly an important market in the interior which is not now 
supplied with powerful steam-pressers for packing the cotton for export. The number of 
European merchants settled in the interior has increased in like proportion, and the con 
sequence is that the cotton grown in a district, instead of passing through the hands of 
a series of middlemen, and being sent carelessly packed to the seaboard, is now bought 
direct from the cultivator by the European agent, and then packed on the spot, in full- 
pressed bales, and sent by railway direct to Bombay for shipment.