May I, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



KASHMIR SHAWLS PROM THE EAST. 455 



portion of a pound to 8 gallons of water. Deal and ash, which, are 

 peculiarly subject to attack, escaped completely when treated according 

 to the first process, but the solution of sulphate of copper, though at 

 first apparently hopeful, failed. 



The hard woods which seem the most capable of resistance are in 

 general expensive. The great point is to find something which will 

 render the softer woods, such as deal or pitch pine, safe ; and it is to be 

 hoped that some modification of Col. Baker's process, in which the wood 

 may be impregnated after Boucherie's method, combined with external 

 charring, will prove a perfect remedy. Metallic salts seem useless, and 

 resinous matters with petroleum and its allies, on the contrary, afford 

 the best hope of protection, though all have occasionally failed. 



KASHMIR SHAWLS FROM THE EAST AND IMITATIONS 

 THEREOF. 



Such is the importance of this beautiful fabric, and of its valuable trade, 

 that a sketch of its origin and of its rapid European development may 

 well precede remarks upon its present position. 



The source from which the article has sprung is well known to be 

 the ancient and beautiful fabric of the Valley of Kashmir, where the 

 excellence of the raw material stands, to this day, unequalled, although 

 its manufacture has been, and is still, carefully prosecuted in many parts 

 of the world. The great beauty of the Eastern tissue, considering the 

 rudeness of the means of machinery employed as compared with those 

 which are now available to the European manufacturer, is a marvel in 

 the eyes of the most experienced. 



The superiority of the woollen fabrics of Kashmir is to be found 

 recorded in many ancient Eastern works. In the Mahabharath, where 

 narrating the transactions taking place at the palace of Gundeshthira, 

 then eldest of the Panda princes, about the period of 200 years before 

 Christ, it is stated (vol. ii., p. 140) " that the people of Kaneboja (the 

 northern districts surrounding Kashmir) brought cloths and skins as a 

 tribute." The former were made cf wool and embroidered with gold, 

 being, in fact, shawls and brocades. 



Again, in the Ayeen Akberry (vol. L, p. 105), being the institutes of 

 the Emperor Jitaleddeen Mohamed Akbur, sixth in descent from Timur 

 (Tamerlane the Great), proclaimed Emperor in 1556, we find the follow- 

 ing interesting account of shawls : — 



"His Majesty has ordered four kinds of shawds to be made. 



" 1st. Toos affee (grey affee), which is the wool of an animal of this 

 name, whose natural colour, in general, is grey, inclining to red, though 

 vol. v. 3 b 



