6,000 of the plain kind, valued at from four to thirty shillings each are made yearly; and from 1,500 to 2,000 of the bordered kind, valued at from 1 /. to 7/. each. The Pan jab districts bordering on the North-Western Provinces and Rajputana are principally remarkable for muslin turbands, which are largely woven at Delhi. In the Sirsa district the principal fabrics are two coarse sorts of muslin called gazis [“ rough ”], painsis [“ broad,” 500 threads to the weft], and dabba khesis , that is “ wrappers ” of two colours. Other Panjab denominations, — which are common to all India, — of native cotton fabrics, are malmals or muslins, of which dorias are striped of a thicker texture at regular intervals, and dhotars are a .coarser variety ; dotahis , sheets folded twice, and chautahis , sheets folded four times ; and susis, fine-colored cloths, made chiefly at Battala and Sialkote, striped in the direction of the warp with silk, or cotton lines of a different colour, the cloth being called dohanni if the stripe has two lines, if three tinkanni and so on. Dan's or twills, and the plain cloths called dosuti , tinsuti chausuti , used principally for tent cloths and dusters, and dabbis or “ gambroons ” have been made only since the English occupa- tion of the country. The thick dari carpets also, for which Ambala was always famous, are now produced all over the country. Printed cloths, if the pattern is continuous, are called chaily if composed of separate designs chit [chintz], and if dyed in spots, like the old bandana pocket-handkerchief, bhandu .
Sindh — In Sindh coarse cotton cloths called dangaris are manufactured in every village and town. Both colored silk and cotton cloths are made at Alahyar-jo-Tando ; and susis at Hala. Tatta was once renowned for its silk and cotton fabrics, and a considerable manufacture of st/sis , lungis , and of mixed silk and cotton also, is*still carried on there. Dr. Winchester [quoted by Mr. Hughes in the Gazetteer of the Province of Sind ’ London, 1876], in 1839, speaks of these articles being then made of exquisite beauty and workmanship ; and they were greatly prized by the old Amirs, who included them in all the presents they
