Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/373

 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 textures of Bengal—Cæsar Frederick, Tavernier, and Forbes's testimony—Extraordinary fineness and transparency of Dacca muslins—Specimen brought by Sir Charles Wilkins; compared with English muslins—Sir Joseph Banks's experiments—Extraordinary fineness of Cotton yarn 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 accounted for—Orme's testimony of the universal diffusion of the Cotton manufacture 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. Whitney's invention to growers and manufacturers of Cotton throughout the world.) Spinning wheel—Spinning without a wheel—Loom—Mode of weaving—Forbes's description—Habits and remuneration of Spinners, Weavers, &c.—Factories of the East India Company—Marvellous 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 (Author of Robinson Crusoe.)—Indian fabrics prohibited in England, and most other countries of Europe—Petition from Calcutta merchants—Present condition 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 having 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 industry,—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