WOOL 



History 



Earliest 

 Garments. 



Wool and Hair. 



Aryans. 



Early British 

 Interests. 



Kirmani Wool. 



Conditions of 

 Merit. 



Parte of Animal. 

 Measurements. 



Tarns. 



Pashm. 



Imported. 



WOOL AND PASHM 



garments. With most castes the bridegroom attends the wedding service with a. 

 woollen charm tied around the waist. Brahma created fire, woollen cloth, the 

 Brahman, and the kdsa grass (see p. 930). From these and such- like references, 

 we are justified in assuming a vast antiquity for the Indian knowledge of wool, 

 as also the arts of spinning and weaving it. 



But even with the Muhammadans, the knowledge in wool is no less extensive 

 than with the Hindus. Frequent mention of it occurs in the Arabic and Persian 

 classics. Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Husain are spoken of as the children of the 

 blanket. But in Asia the very earliest woollen garments were produced by 

 plaiting, much after the fashion of grass-mats, and there would seem reason for 

 believing that the property of felting wool was discovered before the art of 

 spinning it. When viewed under the microscope, the individual fibres of wool 

 are seen to be coated with minute scales, and the fibres are, moreover, curly and 

 elastic. To these physical properties are to a large extent due the felting of 

 wool, as the fibres, on being shrunk, get intertwisted and bound together. But 

 the wool of sheep reared in tropical countries is less scaly, less curly and more 

 rigid than that of temperate countries, and becomes, in fact, hardly separable 

 from the hair of goats. Hence it follows (to some extent at least) that the know- 

 ledge in wool and the position of the woollen industries of India become less and 

 less evident as the approach is made toward the warm moist regions of the tropics 

 or descent is made from the hills toward the plains. It is thus highly probable 

 that the knowledge in wool came to India through the Aryan invaders (wha 

 doubtless were largely shepherds), and even to-day wool takes a very subordinate 

 position in the art crafts of India proper, owing doubtless to its unsuitability as a 

 material of clothing under the climatic conditions that prevail for the greater 

 part of the year. 



During the early years of the British rule in India much attention was paid 

 to wool, more especially shawl-wool (pashm) of the Panjab, Kashmir and Tibet. 

 The papers written by Webb,Raper, Moorcroft and Hearsay, and later by Smythe, 

 Hutton, Hodgson, Conolly, Cooper, etc., may be specially mentioned as the out- 

 come. But long prior to these, many travellers make mention of wool. Thus, for 

 example, Fryer (New Ace. E. Ind. and Pers. (ed. 1698), 224) tells us that the English 

 Company's trade was in his day small from Persia but that they carried a few 

 drugs, Carmania wool, etc. This is, therefore, one of the earliest references by a 

 European to the Kirmani wool, which for many years past has constituted so very 

 important an item in the imports of raw wool drawn by India to its looms. 



Characteristics of the Fibre and Trade Classification. The nature and value of 

 the fibre depends first upon the breed of animal from which obtained ; next, the 

 climate, soil and herbage of the country in which reared ; and lastly, the method 

 and care with which the fleece has been removed from the animal and sent 

 to market. But it is well known that with every precaution observed, departures 

 and irregularities occur. From the standpoint of buying and selling wool, its 

 merit turns on softness, soundness, fulness and freeness. The individual hairs 

 may vary in length, thickness, and number of scales to the inch very greatly,, 

 even within the most carefully selected breed, and moreover they are different on 

 the various parts of the body or during the various seasons of the year, and may 

 even be irregular side by side on the same animal. Mr. N. Burgess, for example,, 

 gives the measurement of one hair in a sample of Saxon wool as TTTSS f an inch, 

 while another lying by its side measured -^\ r> of an inch. But to compare with 

 these, he records hair of Southdown with a measurement of ^J 7 of an inch and 

 another ^fa, the coarest fibre being T ^ of an inch. 



As with cotton, so with wool, the merit of the fibre is generally expressed by 

 lengths to which it can be spun. 32's would be the lowest and 80's the highest 

 average yarn. That is to say, in the former 32 hanks of 560 yards each can be 

 spun from the pound of wool, and so 80's would mean that the wool was so fine 

 that one pound could be spun into 80 hanks of the length mentioned, or 

 44,800 yards. But if the wool be harsh and devoid of elasticity, while in length 

 of staple it may be suited for a certain count, a much lower yarn may actually 

 be possible. Much, therefore, depends upon the condition or texture of the 

 fleece. 



As mentioned above, the under-fleece of the Tibetan goats yields the finest 

 of all Indian wools pashm. This is used for the most expensive and artistic 

 purposes in the Indian woollen industries, more especially the shawls and chadars 

 presently to be described. It is imported across the land frontier and almost 

 exclusively through Kashmir. Waddell (Lhasa and Its Mysteries, 1905, 476-7) 



1122 



