Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/201

 character of oznaburg. Canvas was a strong cloth made of hemp or flax. The cloth known as Scotch varied in texture. Holland was the name given to unbleached linen. Calico was a cotton cloth that was first imported into England by the East India Company. Dimity was also of cotton but of a stout and enduring quality, being interwoven with figures and patterns in colors. Penistone was a coarse woollen fabric of different hues. Broad cloth was of fine wool and commonly black in color. Fustian was the term first applied to a mixture of cotton and flax, but at a later date was used to designate a certain species of woollen goods. Drugget in the seventeenth century was composed in part of silk and in part of wool or cotton, the warp containing gold or silver threads. Galloon was a closely woven lace used in binding.

In England, as well as in the Colony, it was the custom of the age for consumers to purchase large quantities of these and other cloths, and to have them converted into garments for the person or into articles for household use. A comparison of the prices at which they were valued in the mother country with the prices at which they were valued in Virginia, will throw important light on one of the principal elements in the relative expense of living in England and the Colony. In England, the cost of lockram was generally about fifteen pence an ell; in Virginia, it ranged from twelve to twenty-one pence an ell, according to breadth and quality, an ell being equal in length to a yard and a quarter. In England, one ell of dowlas averaged sixteen pence in cost; in Virginia, one yard of the same material ranged from eighteen pence to two shillings and a half, and in some cases, when it was probably in a damaged state, sold for fourteen and fifteen pence. Dimity commanded in England from eight pence to one shilling an all on the average; in Virginia, it ranged from