of CacJiemire and Bouia^n, 243 



to distinguish them here by the names given to them in the 

 country. This nomenclature, if a matter of indifference to 

 the consumer^ will not be so to commerce. 



As this wool is not sold till it has been scoured, washed, 

 and subjected to the process of washing with the farina of 

 the moungue, it gives no more loss: some of the shepherds 

 have assured me that the loss ought not to be estimated at 

 more than a fourth of the weight} a new advantage result- 

 ing from this kind of sheep. 



The wool of the belly is never employed for shawls ; it is 

 used for a particular kind of stuff manufactured in the en^ 

 virons of Sirina2;ar. This stuff is consumed in the country 

 and neighbourin^g provinces. The wool is sold at from fifteen 

 to twenty-five shillings per ser, which weighs twenty ounces 

 French weight. The whole is sold in the country, to be ma- 

 nufactured into shawls, sashes, or borders for turbans ; the 

 two latter are only half an ell in breadth. 



The Cachemirian pieces of cloth are more than sixty 

 French ells in length, and a little more than half an ell in 

 breadth. The price at the manufactories amounts only to 

 the moderate sum of fifteen pence. These cloths, far su- 

 perior either to those of England or France, are worth only 

 a fourth of what they are sold at in the latter countries. Be- 

 sides great disproportion in the price, there is also a great 

 difference in the quality of the casimirs : those of Cachemirc 

 last much longer. This superiority can be ascribed only to 

 the superiority of the wool. 



To propose to the French government to send for this 

 breed, either to rear them in France, or to improve the best 

 of our breeds by crossing thein with rams and sheep of the 

 Cachemirian breed, is to propose a project worthy of it. We 

 already experience the advantages resulting from the breeds 

 obtained in Spain : the wool produced by crossing the Me- 

 rinos by our indigenous breeds has been much improved, and 

 great advantage might certainly be expected from crossing 

 with the finest sheep in the world. This new attempt would 

 bring our wool to a state of perfection. I have even reason 

 to tlnnki, from the observations and experiments of Dau- 

 benton, to be found in his work entitled Instruction pour les 

 Bergers, that the wool of France might be improved to 

 such a degree that it would become superior to that of Ca- 

 chemire. " Experience has proved to me," says he, " that 

 it would be easy to preserve and improve in France the 

 breeds of fine-wooUed sheep, and that the rearing of these 

 sheep would be of great advantage to our farmers, and a 

 great resource to our manufactories," There can be no 

 Q 2 doubt 



