| caption: |
Chapter One. The Material Background |
| caption: |
growth and preparation of cotton ; seeding cotton |
| text: |
Cotton could only be grown by villages which had land lying below an altitude of 3000 feet, for on the higher slopes it did not thrive. It was dried on mats spread out on the house platforms, and seeded with the help of a hand-turned machine consisting of two wooden rollers, which revolved in opposite directions. The principle of this machine was undoubtedly an importation from the plains of Assam, and the women of some interior villages continued to seed cotton with the help of rounded pebbles. |
