258 
keemcabs, and other rich stuffs, the embroiderers, jewellers, paint- 
ers, and inlayers of ivory, ebony, and sandal-wood, meeting with 
no encouragement from the Mahratta government, emigrated from 
Ahmedabad to Surat, and other flourishing cities in the western 
districts of Hindostan, where they have resumed their employments 
with great success. 
Surat is also a considerable market for shawls, one of the most 
delicate fabrics yet brought from the loom: they are not indeed 
manufactured at Surat, nor in any of the southern provinces, 
being chiefly the produce of Cachemire, that “ paradise of na- 
tions, ” where Acber, and many of the imperial princes retired 
from the cares of government: encircled by their favourite cour- 
tiers, and in the bosom of their family, they enjoyed in that mild 
climate the picturesque scenery of the surrounding mountains, and 
the rural beauties of the delicious valley, watered by the celebrated 
liydaspes, and refreshed by many other streams from its lofty 
boundaries. The shawls manufactured in Cachemire, from the 
delicate silky wool of a goat peculiar to Thibet, are an elegant 
article of luxury, too well known in Europe, to need a parti- 
cular description: this manufacture is not confined to Cachemire, 
but all others are deemed of an inferior quality: their prime cost 
is from twenty to five hundred rupees a shawl, according to the 
size, texture, and pattern: some, perhaps, may be more va- 
luable. 
The staples of Europe are disposed of by agents at the respective 
factories in Surat; but the commodities exported to Europe from 
India and China far exceed in value those imported from thence: the 
natives of India, from the mildness of the climate, and fertility of 
