| ASSORTMENTS. | Manufactured at Dacca | Produce of the British Looms | |
| Jamdaní, with small spot, | 1st sort | 25 | 8 |
| Jamdaní, with small spot, | 2nd ditto | 16 | 5 |
| Jamdaní, Mabíposh, | 27 to 28 | 6 | |
| Jamdaní, Diagonal pattern, | 12 to 13 | 4 to 4½ | |
| Jaconet Muslin, 40½, corresponding with Jungle Cossas, | 1st ditto | 38 to 40 | 20 to 22 |
| 2nd ditto | 24 to 25 | 9 to 10 | |
| Nyansook, 40 to 2¼, | 8 to 9 | 5 to 6 | |
| Cambric, corresponding with Camiz Cossas, | 13 to 14 | 6 to 9½ | |
| Jamdaní blue or red sprigs, | 15 to 16 | 4 to 5 | |
| Jamdaní Sarîs, | 12 to 13 | 5 to 5½ | |
| Book Muslin, corresponding with Mulmulls, | 10 to 11 | 7 to 8 | |
| Sahun, 48 by 3, | 28 to 30 | 14 to 15 | |
COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF THE PRICES OF DACCA CLOTHS, MANUFACTURED WITH COTTON YARN SPUN IN THE COUNTRY, AND FROM BRITISH COTTON YARN.
| ASSORTMENTS. | DACCA MUSLINS. | ||
| Manufactured with Country Cotton Thread. | Manufactured with Europe Cotton Yarn. | ||
| Mulmuls, 40 by 2, | 1st sort | 8 to 9 | 3 to 4 |
| 2nd ditto | 10 to 12 | 5 to 6 | |
| 3rd ditto | 14 to 15 | 9 to 10 | |
| Sablams, 40 by 2, | 1st ditto | 4 to 4½ | 2½ |
| 2nd ditto | 5½ to 6 | 3 | |
| 3rd ditto | 11 to 12 | 6 | |
| 4th ditto | 14 to 15 | 8 | |
| 5th ditto | 17 to 18 | 10 to 11 | |
| Sarbans, 40 cubits, | 1st ditto | 3 | 1½ |
| 2nd ditto | 3½ to 3¾ | 1¾ | |
| Allabalís Adí, | 1st ditto | 5 to 5½ | 3 |
| 2nd ditto | 7 to 7½ | 4 | |
| 3rd ditto | 8 to 9 | 5 to 5½ | |
| 4th ditto | 9 to 10 | 6 to 6½ | |
| Tarindans, 40 cubits, | 1st ditto | 4½ to 5 | 3 |
| 2nd ditto | 6½ to 7 | 4 | |
| 3rd ditto | 11 to 12 | 7 to 8 | |
| 4th ditto | 13 to 14 | 10 to 11 | |
| Sarí, per pair, | 1st ditto | 5 | 3 |
| 2nd ditto | 5 to 5½ | 3½ to 4 | |
| 3rd ditto | 9 to 10 | 5½ to 6 | |
| Dhotis, per pair, | 1st ditto | 5 | 3 |
| 2nd ditto | 6 to 6½ | 3½ | |
| 3rd ditto | 7 to 7½ | 5 | |
| 4th ditto | 8 to 8½ | 6 | |
| 5th ditto | 10½ to 11 | 8 to 8½ | |
| 6th ditto | 9 to 11 | 7 to 7½ | |
| Sheraganj Cossas, 40 cubits, | 1st ditto | 4 | 2¾ |
| 2nd ditto | 5 | 3¼ | |
| 3rd ditto | 5½ to 6 | 4 | |
| 4th ditto | 7 to 7½ | 5 | |
| 5th ditto | 8 to 8½ | 6 | |
| Sheraganj Hamam, 40 by 3, | 1st ditto | 5 | 3½ |
| 2nd ditto | 6 to 6½ | 4 | |
| 3rd ditto | 7½ to 8 | 5 | |
| 4th ditto | 9 to 9½ | 6 to 7 | |
| 5th ditto | 11 to 12 | 8 to 9 | |
| 6th ditto | 14 to 15 | 10 to 11 | |
| Jamdan Dhotis, 10 cubits, | 1st ditto | 5½ to 6 | 4 |
| 2nd ditto | 6½ to 7 | 4½ | |
| 3rd ditto | 7½ to 8 | 5 | |
The manufacture of cotton, as we have seen, was general in India and had attained high excellence in the age of the first Greek historian, that is, in the fifth century before Christ, at which time it had already existed for an unknown period; yet eighteen centuries more elapsed before it was introduced into Italy or Constantinople, or even secured a footing in the neighboring empire of China. Though so well suited to hot climates, we have seen that cottons were known rather as a curiosity than as a common article of dress in Egypt and Persia, five centuries after the Greeks had heard of the “wool-bearing trees” of India: in Egypt, as has been shown, the manufacture never reached any considerable degree of excellence, and the muslins worn by the higher classes have always been imported from India[468]. In Spain the manufacture, after flourishing to some degree, became nearly extinct. In Italy, Germany, and Flanders, it had also a lingering and ignoble existence.
[468] In Arabia and the neighboring countries, cottons and muslins came gradually into use; and the manufacture was spread, by the commercial activity and enterprise of the early followers of Mohammed, throughout the extended territories subdued by their arms. “It is recorded of the fanatical Omar, the immediate successor of the Arabian impostor, that he preached in a tattered cotton gown, torn in twelve places; and of Ali, his contemporary, who assumed the caliphate after him, that on the day of his inauguration, he went to the mosque dressed in a thin cotton gown, tied round him with a girdle, a coarse turban on his head, his slippers in one hand, and his bow in the other, instead of a walking staff.”—Crichton’s History of Arabia, vol. i. pp. 397, 403.
PART FOURTH.
ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE LINEN MANUFACTURE.
CHAPTER I.
FLAX.
CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF FLAX BY THE ANCIENTS—ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC.
Earliest mention of Flax—Linen manufactures of the Egyptians—Linen worn by the priests of Isis—Flax grown extensively in Egypt—Flax gathering—Envelopes of Linen found on Egyptian mummies—Examination of mummy-cloth—Proved to be Linen—Flax still grown in Egypt—Explanation of terms—Byssus—Reply to J. R. Forster—Hebrew and Egyptian terms—Flax in North Africa, Colchis, Babylonia—Flax cultivated in Palestine—Terms for flax and tow—Cultivation of Flax in Palestine and Asia Minor—In Elis, Etruria, Cisalpine Gaul, Campania, Spain—Flax of Germany, of the Atrebates, and of the Franks—Progressive use of linen among the Greeks and Romans.