Further, the association of fustians in the seventeenth century with Bolton rather than with Manchester was probably justified. As we shall see, in its early stages the fustian manufacture was mainly, if not altogether, carried on in the outside districts. So far as Manchester was concerned, the manufacture of fustians appears, at first, to have been added to another branch of manufacture at a later date than when Fuller wrote. Before dealing with other branches of manufacture, however, it will be advisable to continue the history of the fustian manufacture into the thirties of the eighteenth century, which years mark an important stage in its development. III At the close of the seventeenth century, the annual import of cotton-wool amounted to nearly 2,000,000 lbs., and was still brought mainly from the Levant and the islands of the Mediterranean, though in the previous century some was imported from Africa.[64] In the seventeenth century, excellent witness is borne to the importance it had attained, by those interested in floating companies for colonisation putting forward prospects of its growth as an inducement to subscribers to their schemes.[65] Before the end of the century, cotton from the British plantations had assumed a prominent place, and from this time the European West Indian colonies, with South America, became the most important sources of supply until the end of the eighteenth century, when they in turn were displaced by the United States. Also, during these two centuries, cotton-yarn and fine cotton fabrics were imported by the East India Company from the ancient home of the cotton industry in the East.[66] [Footnote 64: Baines, _ibid._, p. 346. Scott, _ibid._, ii., p. 11.] [Footnote 65: Scott, _ibid._, pp. 323, 326, 335.] [Footnote 66: _Records of Fort St George, Despatches from England_, 1670-1677, pp. 4, 27 _et seq._ Ure, _Cotton Manufacture_, i., p. 355, 1861 edition.] Apparently it was this import of fine cotton fabrics which in 1691 attracted the attention of John Barkstead, merchant, of London, and threatened to bring the developing cotton industry into the hands of a patentee. Mr. Barkstead was evidently an enterprising individual who was interested not only in the cotton industry, but also in the silk industry, and in copper mining.