CASE-SHOT CASHMER E. 



79 



They serve, at the same time, as a place for keeping 

 the heavy ordnance, and, in case of necessity, as 

 habitations tor the garrison. 



CASE-SHOT, in artillery, is formed by putting a 

 quantity of small iron balls into a cylindrical tin box, 

 called a canister, that just fits the bore of the gun. 

 In case of necessity, the canister is Hied with broken 

 pieces of iron, nails, stones, c. The case is closed 

 at both ends by wood. Shot of this sort is thrown 

 from cannons and howitzers. In sieges, sometimes, 

 instead of cases, bags are used. This kind of shot is 

 very injurious to the enemy, because the balls con- 

 tained in the canister spread, diverging in proportion 

 to the distance. The amount of divergence is, to 

 the distance which the shot reaches, generally in the 

 proportion of 1 to 10 ; thus, at the distance of 600 

 paces, they make a circle of 60-paces diameter. The 

 canisters used in the Prussian army contain balls of 

 1, l, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 12 ounces and of 1 pound. The 

 distance which the shot will reach varies according 

 to the weight and number of the balls. A six-poun- 

 der shoots canister balls of 1 ounce from 200 to 500 

 paces ; twelve and twenty-four-pounders shoot balls 

 of 1 pound 800 to 1000 paces. The number of the 

 balls varies according to their weight. 



CASHMERE, in Hindostan, now a province of 

 the Afghan state of Cabul, in Asia, is a very cele- 

 brated valley, surrounded by the gigantic mountains 

 of Asia, the Himalaya and Hindoo Koh, and traversed 

 by the river Behat or Chelum (formerly Hydaspes). 

 It embraces about 17,291 square miles, and contains 

 about 2,000,000 inhabitants. From three sides, 

 seven passes only lead to this region ; to the east, 

 the Himalaya presents an insurmountable barrier of 

 snow. The splendour and sublimity of the diadem 

 of snow-capped mountains, the beauty and richness 

 of the hills, which form the ascent to the higher 

 peaks, it is impossible to describe. The elevated 

 situation of the valley, and the mountains of snow 

 which surround it, render the climate rather cold ; 

 but it is, on the whole, moderate and mild. This 

 region, so rich in romantic scenery, is watered by 

 numerous streams, and is blessed with an abundance 

 of the finest productions. The Asiatics, therefore, 

 call it the paradise of India, the flower-garden, and 

 the garden of eternal spring. The hills are covered 

 with forests and Alpine pastures ; at the foot of these 

 are fields of corn ; along the sides of the rivers, rice 

 is planted ; rich orchards extend over the foremost 

 range of hills; mulberry trees are cultivated in 

 abundance, for the support of silk-worms, and are 

 entwined with vines, from whose grapes wine, very 

 similar to Madeira, is prepared. The fruits of warm 

 climates do not ripen here. The valley is famous 

 for its flowers, with which all the gardens and mea- 

 dows abound. Violets, roses, narcissuses, and innu- 

 merable European flowers, besides many that are not 

 known in Europe, grow wild. The inhabitants are 

 Hindoos, of the religion of Brama, although they are 

 under the dominion of the Afghans, who profess the 

 Mohammedan religion. Their language is a dialect 

 of the Sanscrit. They manufacture their celebrated 

 shawls in great perfection. The wool wliich they 

 use for this purpose comes from Thibet and Tartary, 

 in which countries, only, the goat, from which it is 

 taken, is said to thrive. About 80,000 shawls are 

 made yearly, in 16,000 looms, each of which employs 

 three workmen. The capital, Cashmere (likewise 

 Serinagur), the largest town in the whole empire of 

 Afglianistan, is situated on the Behat, and contains 

 200,000 inhabitants. 



Cashmere Goat, a nobler species of the common 

 goat, is descended from the goat of Thibet, which 

 pastures on the Himalaya. The climate in Thibet 

 U subject to sudden changes. There is little rain, 



but much snow, as the cold in winter is below the. 

 freezing point. Thibet is situated at the northern 

 descent of the Himalaya mountains, and Cashmere at 

 the southern; hence the latter is a little warmer 

 than Thibet. In Thibet, this goat is a domestic 

 animal. It is not allowed a very luxuriant pasture. 

 The favourite food of these animals is buds, aromatic 

 plants, rue, and heath. The people of Thibet give 

 their goats, at least once a-week, some salt, which 

 has always proved a useful accompaniment to the 

 customary food of these animals. If they are trans- 

 ferred from their cold, mountainous abode into a 

 warmer country, the natural consequence follows, 

 that the wool becomes inferior in quantity and fine- 

 ness. It grows, also, very slowly hi the warm part 

 of the year, and more vigorously as the cold season 

 approaches. The head of the Asiatic goat is large, 

 the horns situated backwards, and somewhat curved, 

 the legs slender. The colder the region where the 

 animal pastures, the heavier is its fleece. Proper 

 food and careful tending increase the fineness of the 

 wool. Yearlings, as in the case with the Merino 

 sheep, afford the finest wool. A full-grown goat 

 yields not more than eight ounces. The goats which 

 pasture in the highest vales of Thibet have a bright 

 ocher colour. In lower grounds, the colour becomes 

 of a yellowish-white, and, still farther downwards, 

 entirely white. The highest mountains of the Hima- 

 laya, inhabitable by man, contain also a kind of goats 

 with black wool, which, in India, and in the moun- 

 tainous country of the goats, obtains the highest price, 

 as a material for shawls. The goats of Thibet and 

 Cashmere have the fine curled wool close to the skin, 

 just as the under-hair of our common goat lies below 

 the coarse upper-hair. The wool is shorn in the 

 spring, shortly before the warm season the time 

 when the animal, in its natural state, seeks thorns 

 and hedges in order to free itself from the burden of 

 its warm covering. All the hard and long hairs are 

 picked out most carefully. The wool, thus purified, 

 is washed, first in a warm solution of potah, and af- 

 terwards in cold water, in which process felting must 

 be carefully avoided. It is then bleached upon the 

 grass, and carded for spinning. The shawl-wool 

 is three times dyed before carding, after spinning, 

 and in the shawl. The AsiaUcs avoid spinning the 

 wool hard, in order that the shawl may be soft. 

 They use a spindle, which consists of a ball of clay, 

 with an iron wire attached. The finger and the 

 thumb of the spinner are kept smooth by steatite 

 powder. A large shawl, of the finest quality, re-, 

 quires 5 pounds of the wool ; one of inferior quality, 

 from 3 to 4 pounds. Main, in London, has invent- 

 ed a machine, which spins this wool, in a very simple 

 way, finer than can be done by the best spindles of 

 Thibet, and, at the same time, of a firmer thread. 

 The flesh of the Cashmere goat tastes as well as that 

 of the common one ; and its milk is as rich, jf it is 

 well tended. Since 1820, this species has been in- 

 troduced into France, and succeeds very well. The 

 enterprising baron Ternaux (q. v.) ordered 1289 of 

 these goats to be brought to France (1820), under 

 the care of the celebrated professor of Oriental lan- 

 guages in Paris, Amadee Joubert. Joubert found 

 these goats already spread from Casi.mere to the 

 Ural, over Bucharia, in Independent Tartary, pur- 

 chased them in the deserts there, and transported 

 them over the Volga along the coast to Theodosia, 

 in the Crimea, where they were put on board vessels 

 to be carried to France. On the voyage, which last- 

 ed a long time, a great number died : there remain- 

 ed, however, more than 400 healthy animals, which 

 were sent from Toulon and Marseilles, partly to the 

 Pyrenees of Roussillon, partly to tiie lime-hills of Pro- 

 vence , and to the pastures of A Isiitia and Rambouillc t. 



