1836.] Weaving, Spinning, &;c. in Nepdl. 221 



the wheel by means of a handle, and with the other, drawing out the 

 cotton into thread. 



An iron rod is attached by means of a string to the wheel, and 

 revolves in company with it, on which the thread, as spun, is collect- 

 ed, and in this manner, women and girls of all ages employ them- 

 selves, when not assisting at sowing or reaping, either in front of 

 their dwellings, in the towns, or at the road-side, as may best suit 

 their convenience*. The spinning wheel may be best described by 

 saying, that it is but the ancient distaff, improved by the addition of a 

 wheel for keeping it in motion ; for the sharp-pointed iron rod, to the 

 extremity of which the cotton is applied, and by which it is spun into 

 thread, is precisely the spike of the distaff, and like its prototype, 

 serves the double purpose of a bobbin on which the thread is accumu- 

 lated as spun. The spinner turns the wheel from left to right while 

 forming the thread, and to allow the portion spun to be accumulated 

 on the iron rod, gives the wheel a small turn in the opposite direction, 

 at the same time, lowering her left hand, so as to permit the winding- 

 up of the thread. This necessary interruption in the spinning process, 

 is a great drawback on the time of the spinner, and renders the distaff 

 wheel very inferior, when compared to the common one of Europe 

 When tending cattle, or watching their ripe crops, the females gene- 

 rally wile away the time, and assist in replenishing the family ward- 

 robe by spinning or weaving in the open air. 



Having thus imperfectly spun the yarn, we proceed naturally to the 

 warping and weaving of it, both of which processes are performed ex- 

 clusively by women, with the very simplest and rudest machinery, 

 equalled by the coarsest and most ungainly produce. The ordinary 

 breadth of the Nipal cotton cloths is about half a yard, and rarely 

 exceeds two feet. The average length of the webs is from 6 to 12 and 14 

 yards, and the texture of the finest is not superior to the dosuti cloth 

 of Hindustan, used for house canopies (chhatsj and floor cloths. 



When a Newdr woman has spun a sufficient quantity of thread for 

 the warn of a web, she winds it off the iron rod, on which it has been 

 spun, into (or, on) large bobbins of about nine inches long, and fit to 

 hold three or four pounds of thread. 



With these large bobbins, and a few reeds, about three feet long, she 

 repairs to the nearest grassy spot without her viilage, or to the side of 

 the causeway, if unpaved, and there, sticking the reeds in the ground, 



* The universality of the spinning wheel may be readily credited, on the 

 announcement of a custom which enjoins every Newar parent to present his 

 newly married daughter with a Yaau and Keko in addition to her dowry. 



