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
