Alabama state intelligencer., 1831-07-23
From the Baltimore Gazette.

IHe CoH0n ITd1e oJ ESyft.-l ne zeal and energy of the Viceroy have been reward cd by great increase of trade, and corres- bonding rise in the value of raw produce, but accident has conferred on him greater boon than could have been derived from the wisest arrangements. M. Jumel discovered onc day, in the garden of Turk called Mako, plant of the cotton tree, which he afterwards pro- pagated with so much skill and success as to have changed, says Planat, the commerce and statistics of Egypt. This important vegeta- ble bears the name of the Frenchman who first made the Government acquainted with its manifold uses as an article of domestic ma- nufacture and of foreign trade. Jumel erect ed at boulaK, near Cairo a superb establish ment, equal in its structure to the finest Euro pean manufactory, for spinning, weaving, and printing cotton goods. The latest improve ments in machinery were borrowed from Rouen or Manchester; steam is the principal moving power; and gas is employed for the purposes of artificial light. At Stout MT Web ster found cotton manufactory in full opera tion. '1t was erected" says he, '"some six years ago, and gives employment to eight hundred men and boys, who earn ten, fifteen, twenty, or thirty paras, and sometimes three piasters. Little boys of seven CT eight were seen in aN parts of the process. The Arab boys are singuFarfy active and intelligent- looking. They work with an air of sharpness which is quite eremarkatle-a sort of style and flourish which shows full comprehension and mastery of what they are about. They Appear much quicker than English boys of the same age. Young girls were once tried in the factory-work, but were found to be of no service. Cotton factories are by no means uncommon in Egypt" M. Mengin made a remark, which we have seen confirmed by other authors-namely, that during the pre- valence ofthe desert-winds machinery is very liable to be disordered by the impalpabe dust which then fills the air, and is so extremely penetrating that, as the natives assert, it will enter into an egg through the pores of the shell.
 This powder finds its way in the wheel work and finer parts of piece of mechanism, disturbing and sometimes stopping the move ments; while the wood, in similar circum- stances, warps or splits, and the threads, ow- ing to the excessive dlyness of the climate, are very apt tobreak and snap asunder. But, notwithstanding all these disadvantages, which perhaps hnd a full compensation in the cheap labor of country whose inhabitants have few wants, the Pacha is able to compete with the Europen manufacturers in every market to which he IS admitted, and even to under sell the merchants ofIndia in their own ports. It has happened, fortunately for the Pacha, that this cottonwood is not the usual coarse kind hitherto grown in Egypt; but of very superior quality, equal to the best American. In the year 1922, the crop yielded about s. 500, 900 lbs.-a portion of which being sent to Liverpool on trial, was sold at the rate of a shilling pound. In 1923, the produce was so abundant that, after supplying the coun- tries on the borders the Mediterranean, it was calculated that at lest 90, 900 bags might be exported to England. The Pacha is still extending the culture of this useful plant on tracts of ground long neglected, by clearing out the old canals, and digging others for the purpose of irrigation; so that it is very proba- ble the quantity of cotton which may be raised in Egypt will at no distant period nearly equal the importation from America; because, as the cropis not exposed, on the banks of the Nile, to the frost, and heavy rains which ire quently injure it in the less temperate climate of the United States, it is much less prccari- ous.