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 CASHMERE 55 ning and avarice, and notoriously addicted to lying. They appear to be of Hindoo origin. At the beginning of the present century the population of the valley was 800,000, which Cashmerian Boatmen. has been reduced by pestilence, famine, and earthquakes to 200,000. In 1828 an earth- quake destroyed 1,200 persons ; two months later the cholera carried off 100,000 in 40 days; and in 1833 famine and pestilence committed still more frightful ravages. The chief towns are Serinagur or Cashmere, the capital (see SEBINAGUB), Islamabad, Shupeyon, Pampur, and Sopur. The principal manufactures are the celebrated Cashmere shawls, gun and pis- tol barrels, paper, lacquered ware, and attar of roses. The country was conquered by the Mogul emperor Akbar in 1587, by the Afghans in 1752, and by the Sikhs in 1819. It was in- cluded in the territory transferred by the lat- ter to the British under the treaty of Lahore in 1846, and was immediately sold by its new owners to Gholab Sing for the sum of 750,000 ; but by the compact between the maharajah and the British government, the rajah is to be assisted in defending himself against his ene- mies, and British supremacy is acknowledged. See Vigne's "Travels in Kashmir" (2 vols., London, 1842) ; " Travels in India and Kash- mir," by E. Schonberg (2 vols., London, 1853); and "Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet," by Captain Knight (London, 1863). CASHMERE (Fr. cachemire), a textile fabric made of the fine wool of the Thibet goat. In Cashmere the wool is received from Thibet and Tartary, and, after being bleached, is spun and dyed of various colors. The weavers, em- ployed by the merchants for a few cents a day, receive the yarns, and in their shops, or at looms in their own houses, proceed to weave them after the patterns ordered. Each loom is estimated to produce five shawls a year; but a single one of the finest shawls sometimes occupies the work of a whole shop, keeping two to four persons constantly engaged upon it, for an entire year. The total number of looms in Cashmere, it is believed, is about 16,000. The process of weaving the shawls with variegated figures is conducted without a shuttle, each colored yarn of the woof being worked upon the warp with its separate wood- en needle ; and as the work goes on very slow- ly, it is customary to divide it among several looms, and then join the pieces together. This is so skilfully done that the seams are not detected. As the pattern is worked, the right side is the under one upon the frame, and is not seen by those who work it upon the upper or rough side. The shawls are made single and in pairs, either square or long ; the former measures from 63 to 72 inches on a side, the latter 126 inches by 54. To work a single long shawl without a seam, and of the finest thread in the warp as well as the woof, in the most elaborate pattern and exquisite colors, would require the labor of about three years ; and as in this time the colors are likely to change, and the fabric to receive injury from worms or otherwise, such shawls are rarely attempted. The fine shawls are more usually made upon 12 different looms for a pair. The principal market is in the London semi-annual public sales, which of late years have materially de- creased, chiefly owing to the direct impor- tation into France by Paris houses having agents in Cashmere. In 1852 the London sales amounted to 100,000; in 1862, 270,- 000 ; in 1869, only 80,000. In 1871 the total import of India shawls into England was 1,557, against 3,343 in 1870. On account of the Franco-German war there was but one public ile in 1871, amounting to 27,000. In 1872 wie June sale amounted to 36,245. These sales included long shawls, square with plain and filled centres, pieces, scarfs, cravats, capes, fringes, &c. The buyers are from France, Belgium, Germany, England, the United States, and sometimes from Eussia and Turkey. The prices range from 2 to 70, and occasionally 100 for exceptional qualities and patterns. The finest and choicest shawls now go exclu- sively to Paris direct from India ; Russians and Italians sometimes buy the best, but do not import them. Very few of the higher priced shawls are manufactured, though in some pub- lic sales in London shawls have been sold at from 160 to 220 each. The maharajah of Cashmere has control of the exports of shawls, and through his agents sends some to the Lon- don sales. Various attempts have been made to naturalize the Thibet goat in Europe and the United States. In 1819 a cross between the Thibet and a Tartar variety was introduc- ed into France, and subsequently some of the stock was sent to England. Some years ago Dr. J. B. Davis of Columbia, S. C., imported nine pure breed Thibet goats, the stock of