90 INDIA.. 



frrtiidm mott remote times, to have carried the cotton manufac- muslins of an inferior quality, as well as flowered, stri- Statistics. 

 ture, must be mainly attributed to the circumstance, ped, and checkered muslins, are manufactured in the 

 tii ,t tvery distinct kind of cloth is the produce of a district of Dacca, and in the northern parts of. I! 



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ilar district, in which the rnoile of manufacluring 

 it has been transmitted for centuries from father to son. 

 The province of Bengal, and the eastern side of the 

 l\ninsula, are the principal seats of the cotton manu- 

 facture. The vicinity of Simoga, a town in the My- 

 sore Rajah's dominions, 122 miles to the north-west of 

 St-ringapatam, is the limit of the manufacture of cotton 

 to the westward, in this part of India ; and, with the 

 exception of a particular kind of chintz made at Poo- 

 tiah, and painted with gold and silver, there are as 

 fine cotton cloths made on the western side of the Pe- 

 ninsula. On the eastern side, the Madras investment 



The manufacture of muslins in pieces, Chiefly f<>r tur- 

 bans, is carried on to a great extent in the'Cuttack dis- Dimities. 

 trict of Orissa. Dimities of various kinds and pat- 

 terns, and cloths resembling diaper and damask linen, 

 are made at Dacca, Patnn, Taunda, and other places. 

 Chintzes are manufactured principally in the district of 

 Benares, and in the country around Patna and Calcut- 

 ta ; in Hindostan Proper, and at Mnsulipatam in the 

 south of India. This last place has long been famous 

 for this kind of manufacture, which is in great demand 

 at Bombay and in Persia. Masulipatam and Madras 

 are lso celebrated for their palampores, the ground- 



of cotton piece goods for the East India Company is work of which is formed of the plain long cloth, chiefly 

 Cape Cbmorin and Ganjam, in the North- wrought in the island of Nagur and its vicinity. 



provided from 



era Circars, a distance of about 1.900 rrtiles. The prin- 

 cipal part of this investment is provided in the North- 

 ern Circars. In Bengal, this manufacture, in almost all 

 its branches, flourishes very extensively. It also extends 

 into the provinces of Oude, Allahabad, particularly 

 the Benares district, Bahar, and Orissa. 



There are such varieties in the fineness and other 

 qualities of the cotton goods, especially of the calicoes 

 manufactured in India, that it would carry us beyond 

 our proper limits to particularise each kind ; and, in- 

 deed, most of them are scarcely known in Europe, or 

 merely known by their Indian appellations. Coarse 

 cotton cloth is manufactured in different parts of the 

 province of Agra. In the centre of the Doab, there 

 is a kind very coarse and common, which is dyed red 

 with cheap materials. The coarsest sort of blue hand- 

 kerchiefs are manufactured near Calcutta. The great- 

 er part of the return cargo carried annually from the 

 northern parts of Bengal to Bootan, consists of coarse 

 cotton goods, which are the staple commodity of Rung- 

 poor. The cotton goods made in the more southern 

 parts of India, in general are not coarse, though there 

 are goods of this description manufactured in the North- 

 ern Circars, both to the north and south of the Go- 

 davery : these are either plain or coloured with chay 

 root, which grows in most perfection on the pure sanda 

 annually overflowed by the Krishna. There is also a 

 manufacture of coarse cotton cloths at Arcot. 



Dacca, in the eastern quarter of the province of Ben- 

 gal, has long been celebrated for the manufacture of the 

 finest muslins. In this district there is grown a kind 

 of cotton, called Banga, which, though not of a very 

 superior quality, is necessary to form the stripes of such 

 muslins ; and this circumstance may have contributed 

 to the perfection of the fabric at Dacca. The manufac- 

 ture, however, is in a declining state, owing to several 

 causes. Before the fall of the imperial government, 

 those delicate and beautiful fabrics were held in such 

 estimation, not only at the court of the emperor, but 

 amongst all the higher orders of the nobility in India, 

 as to render it a matter of difficulty to supply the de- 

 mand for them. The almost entire cessation of this 

 demand, must have greatly contributed to injure this 

 manufacture. But, besides this cause, another must be 

 sought for in the perfection to which the muslin manu- 

 facture of Britain has recently been brought. In coil- 

 sequence of the falling off in the demand, many of the 



The first process necessary to prepare the cotton for Processes. 

 being manufactured, is to separate the wool from theseed; 

 the cotton encircles a black seed, and advances perhaps 

 half an inch upon it. To separate there, the natives of Carding. 

 Hindostan make use of three cylinders that go different 

 ways. As these move closely together, when the cot- 

 ton is introduced between them, the wool is drawn out, 

 and the seed is left behind. This simple machine is 

 found in every house, and is worked either by the spin- 

 ner, or even by children. The second process is per- 

 formed by a sort of bow, something like what the hat- 

 ters use in Europe to prepare the wool for making hats. 

 One end of this is fastened to the ceiling ; the work- 

 man holds it by the middle, while, at the same time, 

 with a piece of wood that has a pad at the end of it, he 

 stretches the cat- gut string of the bow. This, by its 

 elasticity, beats the cotton, separates the dust and seeds 

 that may remain after the first process, swells it out, 

 and, in short, answers the purpose of carding, and puts 

 it in a state to be spun. It is remarkable, that this pro- 

 cess is performed, in a country where there are so many 

 species of Hindoos, by Mahomedans, called Choulias, of 

 the sect of AH. They are of Arabian descent. There 

 are one or two such persons in every village of the 

 Northern Circars, who performs two operations, that of 

 cleaning cotton, and of spinning the warp. 



The spinning of the cotton thread which is to serve Spinning. 

 for the weft, is the occupation of the females of almost 

 all the castes, except the Brahmins : but particularly of 

 the cultivating caste, and of such families as are in de- 

 cayed circumstances, and, having few means of employ- 

 ing themselves, from the secluded nature of their mode 

 of life, derive from this occupation the supply of their 

 few and humble wants. The spinners purchase the 

 cotton which they may require weekly, at the market ; 

 and " this is done in so simple a style, and with so much 

 attention to economy, that the weaver, perfectly well . 

 acquainted with the price of the raw material, seldom 

 affords to the spinner more than he thinks a just return 

 for the labour of the week : and that matter is so well 

 understood among the weavers generally, that no wea- 

 ver, for the sake of getting a larger quantity of thread, 

 will outbid his neighbours in the purchase of it." Evi- 

 dence before the Select Committee as to the affairs of' the 

 East India Company. 



The weavers live entirely in villages; and on the Weaving. 



... - B - ~ -..-, ....... j ,. uw coast of Coromandel, and in the province of Bengal, 



families who possessed the hereditary knowledge of which, as we have seen, are the chief seats of the cot- 

 manufacturing these very fine muslins have given up ton manufacture, there is scarcely a village, at a short 

 the business. So minute is the labour bestowed upon distance from the high road, or a principal town, in 

 them, that a weaver will require five or six months to which every man, woman, and child, is not employed 

 execute a piece. Besides those very fine muslins, plain in making a piece of cloth. As the thread is laid the 



