MATS AND MA II I 



MATS AND MATTING MATERIALS; I //</// /'/. 



Beng. (gives list of mats and matting materials) ; / 



.I-//''. //"' 800. I '"I., 1857, ix., 10; a ,>luit. 



Arts Ind., 1880, ii., L"j:! !. L'98 ; Muklmrji, Art Manuf. ln>l., I8*, :;u7 1 1 ; 

 Journ. Ind. Art and Indunt., 1890, iii., 31 ; Gee, Monty. Fibrous Mat. 

 7V*.. 1891, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, etc. ; Japanese Floor M<itti,js, in Jottn. 8oc. 

 Arts., 1892, 919 ; Watt, Ind. Art at Delhi, 1903, 447. 



For information regarding woven mats, the reader should consult 

 Carpets and Rugs (pp. 271-6), and for the chief matting materials 

 list below. The most famous of the so-called mats are the grass-mats 

 (n] of Palghat on the Malabar Coast of Tinm-vclly, and Ganjam in South 

 India ; (6) of Midapur and Calcutta in Bengal ; (c) the sitalpati mats 

 of Eastern Bengal and Assam (Sylhet) ; (d) the coir mats of South 

 India and Bengal; (c.) the munj mats of Allahabad, Agra and Delhi 

 in North India ; (/) the date and other palm-leaf mats used all over 

 India, more especially in Western and Southern India in Bombay 

 known as shaelu mats ; and lastly, (</) ivory mats, woven from strips 

 of ivory so fine that they resemble the strands of sitalpati (see Irory, 

 p. 698). 



Mats or rather screens (tatties) made of the sweetly scented khas-khas 

 are hung in front of doors, etc., to afford shade and to cool, by evapora- 

 tion, the air which passes through their moistened texture. Bamboo mats 

 are manufactured here and there all over India, and in Bengal more especi- 

 ally darmd mats (those constructed of reeds, see Phragmites below) are all but 

 universally used in house-construction. The traffic in darmd mats must, 

 therefore, be very great, and give employment to a far larger number of 

 persons than can be learned from published statistics. In some of the jails 

 aloe-fibre mats are produced and find a fair market, while cane mats are not 

 uncommon. These are formed by selected canes being placed parallel to 

 each other and bound in position by cross-ties. They are exceptionally 

 strong, and specially valued in public offices where there is much traffic. 



The following are the chief matting materials of India : 



Agave (see p. 43). In the Panjab, the fibre of two species is a good deal 

 used in jails for making darfo, mats and ropes. It is beautifully white and takes 

 dye much better than even munj (.svipriiorf), but it is neither so strong nor 

 so durable. The plant is a slow grower and liable to exhaustion. [Gee, I.e. 4.] 



Arundinaria racemosa, Munro (see Bambusa. p. 99). 



Bambusa Tulda, #0*6. (see Bambusa, p. 101). 



Calamus Canes and Rattans (see pp. 202-4). 



Cllnogyne dlchotoma, Sa//s6. ,- Fl. Br. Ind., vi., 258 ; Agri. Ledg., 1896, No. 

 41 ; Nisbet, Burma under Brit. Rule and Before, 1901, i., 383 ; SCITASONEJB. The 

 sitalpati, muktd-pdta, murta, thin, godunika, bhudra, etc. A woody shrub of 

 Eastern Bengal, Assam, Burma and the Malay Peninsula. It thrives on moist 

 ground, which need not be specially prepared, and it can be reproduced by cuttings 

 as well as by transplantation of shoots. 



From the stems are prepared the famous sitalpati or " cool mats." For 

 the manufacture of the finest mats, the murta should be cut when one year old. 

 The split stems as prepared are about 4 feet long, one-twentieth of an inch \vido. 

 and as thin as paper. The average size of the mats, when finished, is about 

 that of an ordinary double bed. Owing to their coolness they are much used 

 during the hot weather, both by Europeans and by Natives, being placed beneath 

 the bedding sheets. As a historic fact of some interest it may be here mentioned 

 that formerly the main corridor of the East India House in Leadenhall Street, 

 London, is said to have been lined with this matting. The quality is judged by 

 glossiness, smoothness and fineness of texture, and it is said that over the 

 smoothest even a serpent cannot glide. The price varies from Rs. 2 for the 

 common sort to as much as Rs. 100 for the best qualities. The chief producing 



775 



MATS 



D.B.P., 

 ii.. 176-82 

 in., 27; 

 v., 196-6. 



Matting. 





Aloe. 



Bamboo. 



Cane. 

 D.E.P., 



vi., pt. i., 



216-7. 



Sitalpati. 



