in the world's market if it is to prosper. The
silks made in these places are not dear, they
are of good appearance, and have (with one
or two exceptions) the unusual advantage of
being washable without the slightest injury
to their appearance. Good silk dresses, warranted
to wash as readily as linen, and with
quite as little damage to their beauty, ought
to obtain patronage in Europe.

One great peculiarity about the silk fabrics
of the Punjaub, is that they are made from
the raw silk brought by Lohanee merchants
across the Indus, through Afghanistan, from
Khorasan and Bokhara. In Khanikoff's account
of Bokhara, its Eineer and People,
it is said that, " the silk of Bokhara is much
inferior to that of China, and even to the
French and Lombard silks." The silk-workers
of the Punjaub are of a very
different opinion. A great deal of silk from
Bengal and some from China, via Bombay,
finds its way into the Punjaub, but the best
of it only fetches half the price of silk from
Bokhara; often it will fetch only a third.
Bokhara silk is called by the natives "Hathee
singul"—strong-enough-to-hold-an-elephant,
a name which gives some promise of strength
and durability for dresses woven from its
thousand threads.

The methods of silk winding, twisting,
dyeing, and weaving, followed in the Punjaub
are of course extremely primitive. The cost
of manufacture is not great, and if the cost
of the raw silk were lessened by the introduction
of silkworms, a very valuable branch
of trade might be promoted which would
help to keep the fingers of the people out of
border frays. In many of the valleys at the
foot of the Saleeman range, and in the fertile
valley of Bunoo, particularly, the common
mulberry abounds, and its growth is favoured
by the care and cultivation of the natives, who
enjoy a doze under its leafy shade, and in due
season mend their diet with its fruit. Dr. W.
Jameson, Superintendent of the Botanical
Gardens, N. W. P., says in his MS. Report on
the Physical Aspect of the Punjaub, lent to the
Lahore Society by the Board of Administration:
"In this (the Julundur) Doab, the
mulberry grows with great luxuriance, and
silk is a great article of trade in Julundur.
The introduction of the silkworm might,
therefore, if properly conducted, be attended
with success. The Morus Multicaulis has
been introduced from the Saharanpoor garden,
and is growing with great vigour. The subject
is, therefore, well worthy of attention,
seeing that in the province itself there is a
large demand for the raw material."

The Government of India has spent money
to good purpose on the introduction of the
tea plant. Its success would be equally
certain if it took measures that would raise
the silk trade of the Punjaub and of other
provinces, depressed just now by change of
Government, to a flourishing condition. If
the weavers and dealers of Umritser, Lahore
and Mooltan could obtain the raw silk
cheaply, close at hand—both mulberry trees
and silkworms being, if possible, transplanted
out of Bokhara—they could lower the price
of their wares, and command extended sale.
The Punjaub might even come in time to
export raw silk. Bengal exports two million
of pounds yearly for the English trade, and
there is no geographical reason why the
Punjaub should not help us too.

Of the process of silk manufacture, as it is
now carried on at Lahore, a very brief account
will be sufficient. There are no factories, of
course; nor is there even any direct communication
between the capitalist and the
artisans. The different processes through
which the silk must pass between the states
of raw material and manufactured fabric, are
represented by so many classes of work-people,
who all work at their own homes or
shops. In each class there are brokers who
obtain work from the dealer, distribute it
among the shops, conveying the material in
all cases to and fro, and paid a small commission
by the workman from his wages.

The raw silk is first placed in the hands of
the winder. There are two hundred and
twenty-five winders in Lahore, some Mussulmen
and some Hindoos. The stock-in-trade
of the winder consists of two small wheels,
placed eight or ten feet apart, one against
a wall near the ceiling, and the other near
the floor, with a few smaller reels on which,
as they move swiftly round to the jerks of a
stick, he winds the silk. It passes between
the fingers of his left hand as it runs, and the
moment that his touch perceives a change of
quality, he breaks the thread off with his
teeth and takes another reel; the respective
ends on the reel and the winding-stick being
expeditiously knotted by the tongue, and so
finely that, although the join is then felt by
the fingers, it disappears entirely in the dyeing.
The whole stock and business outfit of a
winder at Lahore, costs not more than three
shillings and fourpence.

The broker of the winders having returned
to the dealer the raw silk parted into three
qualities according to its fineness (corresponding
respectively to our organzine, tram, and
refuse), the broker of the twisters takes it to
the twisters, of which class of people there are
eighty-seven in Lahore, working in twelve
open sheds, and earning an average of about
sevenpence a day. All that is done in this
country by mechanism, is done by the twisters
of Lahore by hand; their whole stock-in-trade,
the reels included, being worth only
sixteen or eighteen pence.

The dye-house, to which the silk next goes,
has more costly fittings; there are ten silk
dyers in Lahore, and the expense of setting
up a dye-house, including two iron pans, two
copper ones, two furnaces, and six washing
pans, is between eleven and twelve pounds.
The dyers are rather clever; their chief
colours are white, yellow, green, and scarlet,