1840.] Wool and Woollen Manufactures of Khorassan, 333 



two specimens of the woollens manufactured in Kunawar and Tartary, 

 to which I beg especially to call attention, as they are made from 

 wool, which I am informed was rejected in the English markets. 



For remarks on the wool, sheep, and mode of trading with the 

 Tartars, I must beg to refer to my Journal of a trip to Spiti. 



No. 1. Is a sample of what the hill people call " Sooklaut." It is 

 made in Kunawur, at the towns of Soongnum and Kanum, near the 

 head of the district, from wool of the Thibetan sheep. It is said to be 

 finest at Kanum. In Soongnum the chief manufacture is blankets. 



No. 2. Is a sample of a cloth manufactured by the Tartars of Spiti, 

 chiefly for home consumption, from similar wool to the last. 



These woollens are very generally worn in the higher hilly districts, 

 and are called " birmoree." 



The cloth is made in pieces of about 18 inches broad, and varying 

 in length from 6 to 12 yards ; the pieces are generally sold in pairs, at 

 5 to 7 rupees, according to the quality and size. This sample is 

 reckoned good, and is taken off a piece of 12 yards. At Simla a pair 

 of these would sell (if procurable at all) from 14 to 20 rupees. Both 

 these are characteristic of the manufactures of Kunawar and Tartary. 

 They are good samples of what these rude people can produce from 

 that very wool which was pronounced bad, and rejected in England 

 some years ago, and to which allusion is made in my journey to Spiti. 



If such creditable woollens can be manufactured from Thibetan wool, 

 by a semi-barbarous people, and by the rudest machinery, what might 

 not be expected from the finished looms of Europe ? 



Nothing can show more clearly that mismanagement must have 

 existed, than the quality of these very woollens prepared from the wool 

 which at home was pronounced unservicable ! 



It must be borne in mind to, that these are made from unpicked 

 wool, and that the wool itself is quite uncultivated, no attention being 

 paid to the quality of the fleece of those males and females which are 

 used for breeding. Were attention paid to this point — and it probably 

 would be were there a demand for the article — the fleece of the Choo- 

 moorte, or Thibetan sheep, would soon bid fair to rival, if not excel, the 

 finest products of Europe. 



By a few judicious crosses with English rams or ewes, the breed 

 might be made to undergo the dampness of a lower climate, and even- 



i 



