The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous ... - Cd3wd.com

CHAPTER II.
SPINNING AND WEAVING—MARVELLOUS SKILL
DISPLAYED IN THESE ARTS.
Unrivalled excellence of India muslins—Testimony of the two Arabian travellers
—Marco Polo, and Odoardo Barbosa's accounts of the beautiful Cotton tex-
tures of Bengal—Cassar Frederick, Tavernier, and Forbes's testimony—Extra-
ordinary fineness and transparency of Dacca muslins—Specimen brought by Sir
Charles Wilkins ;
compared with English muslins—Sir Joseph Banks's experi-
ments—Extraordinary fineness of Cotton yam spun by machinery in England
Fineness of India Cotton yarn—Cotton textures of Soonergong — ^Testimony of
R. Fitch—Hamilton's account—Decline of the manufactures of Dacca ac-
counted for—Orme's testimony of the universal diffusion of the Cotton manu-
facture in India—Processes of the manufacture—Rude implements—Roller gin
—Bowing. (Eli Whitney inventor of the Cotton gin—Tribute of respect paid
to his memory—Immense value of Mr. Wliitney's invention to growers and man-
ufacturers of Cotton throughout the world.) Spinning wheel—Spinning without
a wheel—Loom—Mode of weaving—Forbes's description— Habits and remuner-
ation of Spinners, Weavers, &c.—Factories of the East India Company—Mar-
vellous skill of the Indian workman accounted for—Mills's testimony—Principal
Cotton fabrics of India, and where made—Indian commerce in Cotton goods
Alarm created in the woollen and silk manufacturing districts of Great Britain
—Extracts from publications of the day—Testimony of Daniel De Foe (Au-
thor of Robinson Crusoe.)—Indian fabrics prohibited in England, and most
other countries of Europe—Petition from Calcutta merchants—Present con-
dition of the City of Dacca—Mode of spinning fine yarns—Tables showing
the comparative prices of Dacca and British manufactured goods of the same
quality.
The antiquity of the cotton manufacture in India ha\ang
been noticed in the last chapter, the present one will give some
account of the remarkable excellence of the Indian fabrics,
the processes and machines by which they are wrought,—the
condition of the population engaged in this department of in-
dustry,- the extensive commerce formerly carried on in these
productions to every quarter of the globe, and the causes that
have tended to destroy it.
The Indians have in all ages maintained an unapproached
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