Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/205

Rh Iyer, and Kuppusawmy Iyer. Their subscribed capital is Rs. 1,00,000, of which they are spending no less than Rs. 40,000 on building a weaving shed and office. The Madura dyeing industry is in the hands of the Saurāshtras, and the modern phase dates back only as far as 1895, when Mr. Tulsiram started dyeing grey yarn with alizarine red, and, in the twelve years which have since elapsed, the industry has grown to very large proportions. The total sales at Madura average at present about 24 lakhs a year. There are from 30 to 40 dye-houses, and upwards of 5,000 cwt. of alizarine red is purchased every year from the Badische Aniline Soda Fabrik. The yarn is purchased locally, mainly from the Madura Mills, but, to some extent, also from Coimbatore and Tuticorin. The mordanting is done entirely with crude native earths, containing a large percentage of potassium salts. Drying the yarn presents considerable difficulty, especially in the wet weather. To secure a fast even colour, the yarn is mordanted about ten times, and dyed twice, or for very superior work three times, and between each operation it is essential that the yarn should be dried. The suburbs of Madura are now almost entirely covered with drying yards."

In a note on the Patnūlkārans who have settled in Travancore, Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar writes as follows. "The Patnūlkārans are generally of yellowish tinge, and in possession of handsomer and more intellectual features than the Tamil castes, from which they may be easily differentiated by even a casual observer. They are, however, more fair than cleanly. They keep in Travancore, as elsewhere, aloof from other castes, and live independently of general society, speaking a foreign language. This they have preserved with astonishing attachment, and recently a Saurāshtra alphabet has been invented, and