Shawl Goat into Britain. 345 



sort of machinery would be applied to diminish this labo\n', as 

 the hair is not entangled in the wool. In those fleeces which 

 were naturally shed in Scotland, the wool was almost entirely 

 separated from the hair during that act ; so that from one 

 goat, I procured nearly a clean fleece in this manner. 



After the several operations of picking and sorting, accord- 

 ing to the degrees of fineness and colour, the wool is washed 

 in a warm and weak solution of potash, and afterwards in 

 water. It is then bleached on the grass, and, when com- 

 pleted, is carded, and prepared for spinning. 



That wool which is intended for dyeing, is dyed once before 

 carding : it is then dyed a second time after spinning, and 

 once more when manufactured into the shawl. Great attention 

 is required in the washing to prevent it from felting. 



The spinning in Tartary is all performed by hand with the 

 distaff and spindle ; the latter being made of a ball of clay, 

 containing an iron wire, and the finger and thumb being pre- 

 served in a smooth state by powdered steatite. Great care is 

 taken not to spin the thread too hard, as the softness of the 

 future shawl depends much on its texture in this respect. 



The weight of wool required for a superfine shawl is five 

 pounds, for one of the second quality three, and for the inferior 

 sort two. 



I may conclude this subject by mentioning the attempts 

 which have been made to imitate this manufacture in our own 

 country. 



Some bales of shawl wool were imported by the East India 

 Company a few years ago; but it was found, on trial, that 

 the Norwich manufacturers could not spin it so as to 

 produce a thread of equal fineness and goodness with that 

 from Merino lamb's wool, although the staple is at least five 

 times as long. It had, therefore, very little sale, as it was 

 only occasionally used to work up with other wools. But a 

 simple method of spinning it by machinery was discovered two 

 years ago by Mr. Main, of Bow Lane, in Cheapside ; and, by 

 that, threads have been produced even much finer than is 

 necessary, and indeed *iperior in texture to the best of Thibet 



