4 or 



5 



Pys 



2 





>j 



1 1 



X 2 





j> 



404 Roree in Khypoor. [No. 113. 



There are very few builders in Roree, and in 1839, there was a great 

 advance in the price of labour, consequent on the number of public works 

 in progress, and the formation of a new cantonment at Sukhur, and private 

 individuals were obliged to procure workmen from Shikarpoor. 



The washermen of Roree and Sukhur call themselves soomrae and 

 do not wash by contract ; they charge so much per piece and more for 

 fine garments than coarse ones. Their charges are : — ■ 



For a silk loongee, 



For a turban, and drawers of soosee, 



For a bochun, loongee, and woman's mantle,. . 



For a shirt, sheet, and petticoat of coarse cotton, 1 ,, 



For a boddice, § ,, 



Rich and poor pay alike ; children's clothes are charged the same as 

 adults, and a double charge made for washing new clothes. The princi- 

 pal suyuds, merchants, and bankers, change their clothes four times a 

 month, and sleep in their drawers, but put off their shirts and bochuns. 

 Tradesmen, shopkeepers, and peasants, change their clothes twice, and 

 sometimes only once a month ; they consider dirt of no moment and 

 wear their clothes till they are offensive, and Moosulmans and Hindoos 

 are alike neglectful of their persons, and filthy in their habits. 



After the washerman has collected the foul linen from different houses, 

 he mixes a quantity of camel dung with water in a large and strong 

 earthen pan, throws the clothes into it and rubs them forcibly against the 

 dung ; he then srinces them, carries them to a river, and dips them 

 into a vessel of water mixed with khar (alkali) obtained from a wild 

 plant called lana which yields impure carbonate of soda, and is burnt 

 to obtain the alkali. He beats the clothes on a plank cut into sharp ribs 

 until the dirt and dung are washed out, dipping them occasionally into 

 the alkali and water; he then srinces the clothes, and steams them 

 twenty-four hours over a large earthen vessel built into the wall of his 

 house, to purify them and take out stains, and on the following morning 

 carries them back to the river and washes them as before. He then takes 

 them home, and squirts some water with his mouth on each cloth to 

 moisten it, and folds four or five pieces one upon the other on a table, 

 He next beats them with a stout wooden roller about twelve inches thick 

 and eighteen inches long, w T hich he uses with both hands, instead of a 

 smoothing iron, to flatten them, and they are ready for use. Neither 

 starch or indigo are used as in India; a few washermen have copper 

 vessels but they are scarce. 



