INDIA. 



93 



Windlmj o 



*!* 



Wore tiHt, 

 ex. 



qnest in India, and by no means destitute of beauty or 

 elegance. Much of it is also exported, wrought or un- 

 wrought, into the western parts of India. 



The best cocoons of the domesticated silk worms are 

 sold by the natives to the Company ; from the rest they 

 off the tilk. But previous to this, the cocoons 

 are immersed in a mixture of water and the excretions 

 of the worms, till a fermentation commences, when 

 ' they are boiled in an earthen vessel. " The women 

 wind off the silk from the pod of the worm. A single 

 pod of raw silk is divided into twenty different degress 

 of fineness ; and so exquisite is the feeling of these wo- 

 men, that whilst the thread is running through their 

 fingers so swiftly that their eye can be of no assistance, 

 they will break it off exactly as the assortments change, 

 at once from the first to the twentieth, from the nine- 

 teenth to the second." Corme's Fragment, 412. A 

 hand reel is employed for this purpose, which resem- 

 bles, in its simplicity and cheapness, all the other imple- 

 ments used by the natives. 



The most extensive and nourishing manufacture of 

 wove silks is at Monshedabad and its neighbourhood ; 

 here are also made various kinds of taffetas, plain and 

 flowered, and other sorts of silk goods, both for home 

 and exportation. In the district of Be- 

 brocades, and ornamented gauxes are 

 in the western and southern parts of 

 Bengal, plain causes, principally for home consump- 

 tion, and mixed goods of silk and cotton at Man Man, 

 Boglipoor, and in some parts of the district of Ktinl. 

 wan. Silk stockings are knit with wire in the neigh- 

 bourhood of (x>ssimbassr ; they are esteemed the beet 

 in Bengal: here are also made satins, silks, carpets, &c. 

 Though the silk worm has not yet been introduced in- 

 to the Camatic, and probably would not thrive there, 

 yet in this province, the silk weavers make goods of a 

 "very strong fabric Mr. Grant calculates that the 

 trading stock constantly employed in the whole of this 

 species of masiu/iHurs, in Bengal and Benares, the 

 chief seats of it, mar reasonably be estimated at 10 

 lacks of mpees, while the prime cost of the raw silk 

 produced in the country, chieoy lor foreign exporta- 

 tion, he setimetss at 5O lacks ; the largest portion of 

 Wnicli w uUVsMora by tntv grat foratgn npovtvr ; toe 

 sum paid to the warden he calculates at one lack. 



The other manufactures of Hindostan are not of 

 great extent or value, and may therefore be noticed hi 

 a more cursory msnner. in all the coioef parts of 



H.. I -,- . _-*4mlM4w n *ftfe- l_.*~l .l.w..:* *' .1 



snoonan, nsrDcsjJBTiy m use csevasaa ojsincui oc tne 





Mysore, the natives wear 

 lies ; they are worn U they come from the 

 are of different lengths ; some being six or seven feet 

 long by four or five broad ; these are of coarser quali- 

 ty ; such as are of a finer texture, are about ten feet 

 long by six or seven bread; these resemble Eng- 

 lish camlets. Neither of the kinds are dyed, but are 

 of the natural colour of the wool, which, in the fine 

 ones, is almost always a good black ; the price of the 

 coarser kind is from eigbtecn-pence to two (hillings, 

 and the finer from twelve to fifteen shillings. The 

 Chitteldroog district of Mysore is celebrated for the 

 manufacture of excellent coroelies, that is of such as 

 keep the natives warm, and protect them from the 

 rain. Flannels well wove, but foiled in a very imper- 

 fect manner, are manufactured at Patna. Carpeting, 

 of a very durable fabric, is made in theChurrar district 

 of Allahabad ; and EUore,. the capital of one of the 

 Northern ( .rears of the same name, U famous for car- 

 pets of a rich and beautiful texture. The best coir 



cables are made at Anjengo and Cochin, of the fibres ^Statistic*. 

 of the laccadine cocoa nut. Canvas is manufactured ^^ "Y"^ 

 from cotton and from the sun hemp; the former in 

 the neighbourhood of Chittajrong, Patna, and some 

 other places, and the latter at Calcutta. In this city 

 there are upwards of 70 looms at work, which can 

 make 150 bolh monthly at least; the workmen are 

 paid at the rate of four rupees for every bolh ; one 

 man, if commonly industrious, is capable of weaving 

 one bolh in ten days, and at that rate might earn 1 2 

 rupees a month ; but he seldom finishes his bolh un- 

 der i.'i days; some take 17 days. As soon as a native 

 workman is paid his four rupees, he quits his loom, 

 and seldom returns till his money is spent. About 

 200 people are employed in this manufactory. The 

 canvass is of the same length, breadth, and weight as Canvas, *c. 

 the English canvass : it has a dross upon it, which is 

 removed by bleaching and washing. Pack thread is 

 wove into sackcloth in many places, particularly in the 

 northern parts of Bengal, where it is used as clothing 

 by the mountaineers. A coarse, but very strong sack- 

 cloth, is also made at Bangalore, in the Mysore, from 

 the Indian hemp. 



Saddles, harness, military accoutrements, and other Saddle-. 

 articles of leather are manufactured by the natives in * boe$ &> '' 

 Bengal. Leather pantaloons for the artillery, and gloves 

 are made at Madras, and shoes all over India. The 

 Bombay shoes are reckoned the best. Hyderabad, the 

 capital of Sinde, i* noted for its artificers who embroi- 

 der on leather Great numbers of brazen water-pots 

 are manufactured at Bareilly, in the province of Delhi. 

 Articles of cutlery, and even brass instruments, are 

 made in some parts in tolerable perfection. The swords 

 made in the Decan, and in the north part of India, are 

 equal in temper, Ac. to the best swords made in any 

 other part of the world. The armourers of Hyderabad, 

 le, are celebrated for the excellence of their work- 

 manship ; and at Poloonahah, in the territories of the 

 Nixam, than U a large manufactory of matchlocks, 

 spears, and other weapons. At Muteodon, in the My- 

 sore Rajah's dominions, the glass is manufactured which 

 is used for making the rings which are worn by the 

 Hindoo women round their wrists. The quality of 

 this glass is not good, the materials of which it is forrn- 

 med not being well sorted, mixed in due proportion, 

 nor fused sufficiently, in consequence of which it is 

 coarse and opaque. It is made of five colours, black, 

 green, red, blue, and yellow. The black is in the most 

 request, and bears the highest price. The natives ob- 

 uin the soda that they use in the manufacture in the 

 fields, where it forms during the hot season. The 

 same fields supply them with sand. The ring makers 

 on the western side of India purchase the greater part 

 of this glass Vixagapatam is celebrated tor its beau- 

 tiful cabinet work, which U psinted snd inlaid with 

 ivory and black wood with great elegance and art. 



ITie manufactures of opium and indigo have already Cochineal. 

 been mentioned. About twenty years ago, the cochi- 

 neal insert was introduced into India ; and cochineal, 

 though of an inferior kind, is now produced in different 

 parts of India. The insect is found to thrive best on 

 the indigenous opuntia, which is abundant in Bengal, 

 and in most parts of India. Near Bailura, in the My- 

 sore Rajah's territories, the husbandmen keep the in- 

 sect on the opuntias, which serve as a fence to their 

 gardens, and make from it annually about 15OO pounds 

 of cochineal. Tar is extracted from teak wood in most Tar. 

 of the places where ships are built of it Rose-wa- 

 ter is distilled in many parts. Guapoor, in the Be- 



