GRASS-MATS 



CYPERUS 

 ROTUNDUS 



Manufacture 



,1 id,. I '..i i.ni (iulf. It is in Bengal known as chumati pati, and apparently 



:.nlar uritrs tuut been much confused with <: ru>-umi,-,i,-.. Ranee (Journ. 



'.9-105) gives a moat interesting account of the matting sail* an. I 



ll'ior-imits of t'liinu. Tho furmor aro not exported, but the latter constitute an 



important item of traflic from Canton to the United States of America. Hance 



I tli.i plant as '. teortl/nrinlii, Roxb., but C. B. Clarku inform. -.1 n,.- t hut, In' 



it us licing mono correctly *'. i / n<*. 



6, C. tegetlformls, Ruxb. , C. nudwi, Roxb., Fl. Ind., i., 209; Fl. Dr. Ind., vi., D.E.P., 

 i'r.iin, I.e. 1144. This form is closely allied to t: /i-'-m/, und the ii., 688. 

 nits seem to have often been confused by economic writers. It is a native 



ii;vl (Central and Eastern the SundribanB), Chittagong, Assam, Bmi.1. -I- 

 ; iuid Madras, and is distributed to China and Japan. A tall glabrous rush- 

 r.lgo known as gola-methi or aura. 



7. C. tflgetum, Roxb.; Fl. Br. Ind., vi., 013; Prain, I.e. 1144; the Sedge or D.E.P., 

 matting IMiint of Calcutta, tho intidar-kati, wetla, korai, mandri, yerkuU, etc. ii., 688-9. 



tr.-iiii-ly abundant and widespread sedge. It occurs throughout the 

 plains ami jisceiids the hills to 0,000 foot in altitude from Kashmir to Burma. 



GltASS-MATS: Calcutta-mats: Madras-mats. Here and there Calcutta- 

 iL r li<mt the greater part of India mats are made of the culms of certain mats. 

 s of sedge. Some are coarse, being woven of the entire culms, and 

 others exceedingly fine, the triangular culms being split into two, four, 

 Mnht, twelve, etc., pieces. These strips of culms are carefully dried, when 

 'iind they have rolled round on themselves lengthwise, thus carrying 

 the polished epidermis uniformly on the outside of the rush-like strands. 

 The process of splitting the culms is perhaps the most difficult and laborious 

 part of the grass-matting art, especially when exceptionally fine mats 

 are to be woven. The collection of the culms and the splitting and drying 

 : the same are duties entrusted to the women, whose patience and delicate 

 are in consequence important factors in success. The men do the 

 iving. The species of sedge most largely used is C. teyetuin (No. 7 

 >ve), but Nos. 4, 5, and 6 are (according to some writers) each and all 

 >!' >yed in the localities where procurable abundantly. In fact, as already 

 ited, the finest mats are those produced in Tinnevelly from C. cori/ni- 

 */'.-. rnr. l'(tnf/<n-ci. But the question whether the production of 

 finer mats necessarily depends on the special properties of the sedge 

 or on the patience and skill of the operators has never been definitely 

 restigated. In certain regions species of sedge are used in the mat 

 le that in other countries are never so employed, though plentiful. 

 greatest uncertainty still pervades the literature of the grass-mat 

 le, more especially as to the particular forms of sedge used in the centres 

 special repute. But the exceedingly fine mats of Tinnevelly, Cochin, 

 unpett, Palghat, Vellore, Indrawatty, Sevry, Talpier, Midnapur, etc. Paigimt and 

 , though often marvellously fine, very beautiful and highly artistic, are pur 



lercially much less valuable than the ordinary grass-mats, the so- 

 called Calcutta-mats or muddr-ma.ts, which are made mainly, if not ex- 

 lively, of C. teu<-tmn. 



Manufacture The method pursued in the fabrication of grass-mats, 

 >wever coarse or fine, is the same with all the Indian grass-mats, and 

 may be here briefly detailed. Threads of ordinary country twine (more 

 rarely cotton) are stretched along the surface of the floor of the factory 

 or workshop, one inch or an inch and a half apart, and extending for the 

 Iftogth of the desired mat. If intended for a large-sized room they 

 may cover, or nearly so, the entire floor of the workshop, or may be 

 placed in one corner, being only a few feet in length and breadth, or 

 many yards in length and only a few feet in breadth (the last being a 



467 





Mate 



Manufac- 

 ture. 



