Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/383

 from the root called kandri. When chequered muslins are wrought, three persons are employed at each loom.

Some authentic particulars concerning the habits and remuneration of the Hindoos engaged in the making of cotton cloth, are contained in an unpublished account of the districts of Puraniya (Purneah,) Patna, and Dinajpur, by Dr. Francis Hamilton, better known as Dr. F. Buchanan, (he having taken the name of Hamilton,) the author of the "Journey from Madras to Mysore, Canara, and Malabar." This account of the above-named provinces near the Ganges is in several manuscript volumes in the library of the India House, in London. We learn from his elaborate survey that the spinning and weaving of cotton prevails throughout these provinces. The fine yarns are spun with an iron spindle, and without distaff, generally by women of rank; no caste is disgraced here by spinning, as in the south of India; the women do not employ all their time at this work, but only so much as is allowed by their domestic occupations. The coarse yarns are spun on a small wheel turned by the hand. The hand-mill is used to free the cotton from its seeds, and the bow to tease it. The following capital is required for the weaver's business: a loom, 2-1/2 rupees; sticks for warping and a wheel for winding, 2 anas; a shop, 4 rupees; thread for two ready money pieces, worth 6 rupees each, 5 rupees;—total 11 rupees 10 anas; to which must be added a month's subsistence. The man and his wife warp, wind, and weave two pieces of this kind in a month, and he has 7 rupees (14 shillings stg.) profit, deducting, however, the tear and wear of his apparatus, which is a trifle. A person hired to weave can in a month make three pieces of this kind, and is allowed 2 anas in the rupee of their value, which is 2-1/4 rupees (4s. 6d.) a month. The finest goods cost 2 rupees a piece for weaving. Dr. Hamilton, in his observations on another district, states the average profit of a loom engaged in weaving coarse goods to be 28 rupees (£2. 16s.) a year, or something less than 13d. a week. At Puraniya and Dinajpur the journeymen cotton-weavers usually made from 2 to 2-1/2 rupees (from 4s. to 5s.) a month. At Patna a man and his wife made from 3 to 4 rupees (from 6s. to 8s.) a month by beating