Page:The Industrial Arts of India.djvu/178

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The Maharaja of Cashmere has, it is said, adopted an effect- ual plan for the suppression of the magenta dyes within his kingdom* First, a duty of 45 per cent* is levied on them at the frontier and at a certain distance within the frontier, they are confiscated and at once destroyed*

The great export trade in Indian cotton manufactures has long fallen before the competition of Manchester, Still, however, an immense cotton manufacture, for domestic purposes, continues to exist in India, equal probably to the whole export trade of Manchester ; and now that cotton mills are being established in Bombay and other cities, we may even expect to see the tide of competition at last turned against Manchester, In consequence of the improvement of national taste in this country, and the spread of higher education and culture among the natives of India, we may hope for a rapid increase in the demand for Indian hand- loom made and artistically dyed and printed piece goods. The true ceuleur livoire is found naturally only in Indian cotton stuffs. Nothing could be more distinguished for the ball-room, nothing simpler for a cottage, than these cloths of unbleached cotton, with their exquisitely ornamented narrow borders in red, blue, or green silk. Indian native gentlemen and ladies should make it a point of culture never to wear any clothing or ornaments but of native manufacture and strictly native design, constantly purified by comparison with the best examples, and the models furnished by the sculptures of Amravati, San chi, and Rharhut*

The Principal Places of Cotton Manufacture in India *

The Punjab*— Mr. Baden Powell says that it is impossible to exclude any city or town from the list of cotton manufacturing, localities in the Pan jab. Weavers are found in every place pro- ducing at least the coarser cloths required by all classes* In the large cities, such as Lahore, Amritsar, Multan, Ludhiana, and others, almost every kind of fabric is woven* Ludhiana has a special name for drills, checks and other cloths resembling