AND SAVONNEKIE CARPETS. 295 
are thus divided into two threads, implanted perpendicularly on the 
warp ; immediately a new series of knots is begun, and the rings of 
wool are cut ; this produces a continuous and horizontal line of threads 
each knotted on two threads of the warp. This row of stitches is after- 
wards strengthened, 1st, with a very strong thread of hemp, called duite, 
which is added to the knots between the two rows of the warp threads,, 
throughout the breadth of the carpet ; 2nd, by a thread of woof which 
envelops each of the threads of the warp and is added to the duite. To 
place the woof in the groundwork or web by means of the warp, the 
worker brings forward the back thread, passes the woof between the 
two rows of threads, then lets those of the back return to their place, 
taking care to hold that woof loose enough, that it may follow the con- 
tour of each of the threads of the warp. In this manner the stitches are 
fixed. 
The worker then heaps up with a very heavy iron comb, the stitches, 
the duite, and the woof ; the threads of the hemp composing the two 
latter elements in the web remain there perfectly invisible. 
This series of operations being terminated, the threads of the wool 
forming the velvet are sheared with a peculiar kind of scissors. In 
large carpets these threads are left about one centimetre long ; in carpets 
of small dimensions, such as hearth-rugs, banquettes, &c, the threads 
are only left the length of from seven to eight millimetres, thus dimi- 
nishing the velvet pile. It is by the shearing process that the interior 
of the woollen threads is exposed to view and that the visible surface of 
the carpet is put in its proper place. That the effect may be satisfactory, 
the most perfect regularity is necessary, and each partial shearing should 
be made in such a manner as to present the effect of a single cut bring- 
ing all to an even surface. 
The mode of tracing employed for tapestries has been used for some 
time in the fabrication of the carpets of the Savonniere ; but for the 
latter, patterns are designed in squares of voluntary dimensions, these 
squares are marked on the warp ; 1st, by coloured threads ; 2nd, by 
horizontal lines traced in ink or chalk. The partial outlines bearing 
the same divisions are adjusted to the general design with mathematical 
precision. No part of the design is previously traced on the warp of 
carpet, this model is copied in squares of twenty-five millimetres each 
side ; the method is infinitely preferable, because it gives to the worker 
the possibility of transferring his pattern without head work, and in 
some degree without fatigue. 
The wool employed in the velvet is composed generally of six threads 
of different shades but of nearly equal value all harmonising together. 
In certain cases these threads amount to nine in number. The com- 
bination of these shades requires on the part of the worker a peculiar 
aptitude for colours ; he draws with these threads of wool as the painter 
does, with his brush and palette, but in proceeding by stitches of which 
