XXIV 



REPOET ON 



Report. averse are they to innovations of any kind. To 

 these impediments may be added another : the 

 country was recovering but slowly from the cala- 

 mitous effects of a dreadful famine, which had 

 swept off millions of the lower class of inhabitants, 

 and occasioned a very considerable defalcation in 

 every species of production. From these causes 

 the imports of raw-silk from 1772 to 1775 (the 

 filature assortment included) were so circum- 

 scribed, as not to exceed on an average 187,494 

 small pounds per annum. 



The new mode of winding, however, having 

 been sufficiently established, considerable impor- 

 tations of filature raw-silk subsequently took place. 

 From 1776 to 1785, the imports of all kinds of 

 silk from Bengal appear to have averaged annually 

 560,283 small pounds, while the importations of silk 

 from Italy, Turkey, &c. did not exceed 282,304 

 pounds. 



The result of the successful efforts for improving 

 Bengal silks was quickly seen, by the decline of 

 importations from Aleppo, Valentia, Naples, Cala- 

 bria, and other places in the Mediterranean, so that, 

 in no long period, the whole of the silks used in 

 this country, were furnished only from the Northern 

 provinces of Italy, from Bengal, and China. 



At 



