Note 10 — Products of Industry

Ginning is accomplished by two methods. The simplest, and doubtless the older, is to place the cotton on a smooth wooden block and to roll over it a wooden cylinder which tapers slightly toward each end (Fig. 16, No. 1). The palm of the hand, at the base of the fingers, is placed on the roller and the weight of the body applied, as the cylinder is moved slowly forward, forcing the seeds from the floss.10 The more common instrument (lilīdsan) acts on the principle of a clothes wringer (Plate LXIII). Two horizontal cylinders of wood are geared together at one end, and are mounted in a wooden frame in such a manner that they are quite close together, yet not in contact. A handle is attached to the lower roller at the end opposite the gears, and as it is turned, it rotates the cylinders in opposite directions. A piece of cotton is pressed between the rollers, which seize the fibres and carry them through, while the seeds are forced back and fall to the ground.