Note 21 — Chapter XL

By cotton, the author evidently means cotton textiles.—B.

This is not necessarily so. Stangl remarks that the author’s meaning must be the tree cotton, which is called kapok, basing his assertion upon the word that is used, presumably in the Chinese. The cotton plant is called kapas in Java. Apropos of tree cotton, Census of the Philippines, iv, p. 120, says: “A species of tree cotton (Ceiba pentandra) is found growing in a wild state in many of the islands; the cotton is useless for spinning purposes, the staple being very short, but it is used for making cushions and other articles.” ↑