, a name given to various coarse low
cloths in the United States and elsewhere; _lasting_, which seems to be
an abbreviation of "lasting cloth," a stiff, durable texture used in
making shoes, &c.; _bolting cloth_, used in bolting or sifting;
_brattice cloth_, a stout, tarred cloth made of cotton or wool and used
for bratticing or lining the sides of shafts in mines; _sponge cloths_,
used for cleaning machinery; _shoddy_ and _mungo_, which though mainly
woollen have frequently a cotton admixture; and _splits_, either plain
or fancy, usually of low quality, which include any cloth woven two or
three in the breadth of the loom and "split" into the necessary width.
Cotton is used too for many miscellaneous purposes, including the
manufacture of lamp wicks and even of billiard balls.

_British Cotton Cloth Exports._--The main lines of the Lancashire export
trade in cotton goods are indicated in the Board of Trade returns. The
table on p. 278 compiled from them is taken from the _Manchester
Guardian_. It gives in thousands of yards the quantities of cotton goods
exported from Great Britain during 1903, 1904 and 1905 respectively,
together with average value per yard for each of the countries.

The following table gives, approximately, in thousands of yards the
quantities exported of the four main divisions of cotton cloths:--

+---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| | 1903. | 1904. | 1905. |
| +-----------+-----------+-----------+
| | Thousands | Thousands | Thousands |
| | of Yards. | of Yards. | of Yards. |
|---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| Grey or unbleached | 1,880,321 | 2,033,895 | 2,336,018 |
| Bleached | 1,326,255 | 1,528,165 | 1,710,742 |
| Printed | 1,027,925 | 1,036,901 | 1,053,900 |
| Dyed and coloured | 922,735 | 993,009 | 1,097,540 |
+---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+

In the case of cloth, too, the Board of Trade returns must not be taken
as an absolute record of imports to the particular countries, as the
ultimate recipient is not always determined. The development of the
Eastern trade has been one of the most remarkable features of the cotton
trade in the 19th century. Professor Chapman writes in his _Cotton
Industry and Trade_: "In 1820 Europe received about half the cotton
fabrics which we