Aubrahs Baftas ............... Doosooties .............R 400 .... 400 Bandannoes ....... ..R 800 Dooties......... 400 Dysucksoys............... 600 Putcahs.................. .R 400 Ditto handkerchiefs.... 400 Elatches Callipatties.............R 400 Cambays ......... Percaulahs ..... 800 .R 800 ..R 400 Pulicat handkerchiefs R 800 Coopees Corahs Cossas Clouts ..................R 400 Mammoodies .............................R 400 600 Muggadooties .........R 400 .R 800 Mulmuls..................................... 400 400 Mulmul handkerchiefs. 400 The following is the mode in which the tonnage of piece-goods is ascertained : When the letter R is against pieces of 400 to a ton, it shews those goods are to be reduced to a standard of 16 yards long and I broad; when against pieces of 800 to a ton, to 10 yards long and 1 broad. EXAMPLE.-1000 pieces of 12 yards long and 1 broad, at 400 pieces to a ton, make 844 pieces, or 2 tons 44 pieces; and 1000 pieces of 10 long by 1, at 800 to a ton, are 1,181 pieces, or 1 ton 381 pieces. The piece-goods exported from Calcutta to Great Britain in 1821-22, amounted in official value to 14,51,722 Sicca rupees. The number of pieces exported by private traders from January to December, 1822, is stated at 880,040, a very small portion of which was probably destined for England. The quantity exported to Great Britain by private traders in 1821, was but 71,800 pieces; and on an average of 7 years, 208,382 pieces. The quantity of piece-goods exported to all ports, exclusive of Great Britain, in the three years ending 1821, was as follows: E. I. Co. Private Traders. Pieces. Total. Pieces. 1819~~~~~~ 11,428 ..................... 3,900,901 ~~~~~~~ 3,912,329 The improvement in the cotton manufactures of Britain has not merely diminished the import of Indian piece-goods, but has opened a market for them in India itself. The lightness as well as cheapness of the British calicoes and muslins has rendered them the chief article of dress amongst all classes of people in England, and annihilated the manufacture of many of the lighter kinds of woollens and worsted stuffs, formerly so much in use. The demand for, and the use of, these articles are proportionate to their cheapness and elegance. India, however, maintains her superiority in the finer kinds of muslin, some of which are of most exquisite beauty and fineness. The common kinds are also preferred, on the score of enduring great hardships, and retaining their whiteness better; and in respect to the coloured, or prohibited goods, for the foreign markets, they will always retain their superiority. In the article of Guinea stuffs manufactured at Surat, and in request on the Coast of Africa, many attempts have been made to imitate them, more particularly by the French, but in vain. The Moors discover merely by the touch whether they have been manufactured in Europe or India; nor is it even to their feel and colour which they chiefly trust-they ascertain by their smell, as the indigo with which they are died, gives them a peculiar smell which cannot be imitated. RICE (Oryza Sativa) is the principal article of food amongst the Eastern nations, and of an extensive trade from Bengal to other parts of India, and China. The kinds of rice are numerous, and the native names of the plant various. It is called paddy in its native state; each grain is fastened to a short stalk, joining to a main stem, and furnishing a bunch of grain, somewhat resembling an ear of oats, and sometimes containing from 150 to 300 grains of rice. There are two methods of clearing it from the husk; one by scalding, which occasions the rice to swell and burst its shell; the other by pounding in a mortar, and afterwards winnowing it. The export trade is principally in what is denominated cargo rice, of a coarse reddish cast, but peculiarly sweet and large grained; it does not readily separate from the husk, but is preferred by the natives to all others. Some kinds of rice, more particularly the Patna, are of a very superior sort, small grained; the latter is rather long and wiry, but remarkably white, and is the kind most esteemed by Europeans. MR. DALRYMPLE states, that a small bag of paddy, given as a present from MR. DUBOIS, Treasurer of the East India Company, to a Carolina trader, was the origin of rice-cultivation in America. The ton of rice is 20 Cwt. ROSES, OIL OF. This valuable perfume is prepared in India, Persia, and Turkey. The quantity to be obtained from roses being very precarious and uncertain, various ways have been thought of to augment the quantity at the expence of the quality. It is often adulterated with the oil of sandalwood; this imposition, however, cannot be concealed; the essential oil of sandal will not congeal in common cold, and its smell cannot be kept under, but will predominate in spite of every art. They have likewise the art of mixing this oil with spermaceti, more particularly that imported from Turkey. The best mode of discovering this fraud, is by spirits of wine: this will dissolve the oil, and leave the spermaceti in lumps, which, if heated, will form one solid mass. In the genuine oil, when congealed, the crystals will be found short and uniform, not more in one part than another; for if they are of different lengths, the oil may be considered as adulterated. It is said that the colour of the attar is no criterion of its goodness, it being sometimes of a fine emerald green, of a bright yellow, and of a reddish hue, from the same ground, and from the same process, only from roses obtained on different days. The real oil, or attar, congeals with a slight cold; it floats in water, and dissolves in highly rectified spirits of wine. It is seldom imported from India for sale, but considerable quantities are brought from Turkey. RUM.-Large quantities of this spirit are manufactured at Bengal, some of which, when it has attained a proper age, is not inferior to the Jamaica rum, and it has this advantage-it is made of better materials. When new, it costs from ten annas to one rupee per gallon; as it increases in age, the price advances in proportion. That rum which is of a brownish transparent colour, of a smooth, oily, grateful taste, of a strong body, and a good consistence, is best; that which is of a clear limpid colour, and hot pungent taste, is new, and should be rejected. SAFFLOWER (Cussom, Hind., Asfour, Arab.) is the flower of an annual plant, the Carthamus tinctorius, (Cushmanda, San.) growing in Bengal, and other parts of India, which, when well-cured, is not easily distinguished from saffron by the eye, though it has nothing of its smell or taste. Safflower should be chosen in flakes of a bright pink colour, and of a smell somewhat resembling tobacco; it gives a deep saffron tincture to rectified spirits of wine, and to water a paler yellow. That which is in powder, dark coloured, or oily, should be rejected. For freight, 14 Cwt. are allowed to a ton. SALTPETRE, (Shora, Hind., Yavac Shora, San.) or NITRE, is a salt prepared in various parts of India, but more particularly in the province of Bahar, likewise in Persia, China, and in the southern parts of Europe. We have had no account of the manner in which it is prepared in the East Indies, no person on the spot having taken particular notice of the manufacture. The general account is, that it is obtained from the soil of certain districts, which are called saltpetre grounds, where the soil is very cold, barren, and unhealthy. The salt is there ready formed by nature. It is only necessary to gather large quantities of the earth, and to put it into a cavity, through which a great quantity of water is poured, which dissolves and brings away the salt which it contains. The brine is evaporated by boiling, and when cold, affords nitre by crystallization. The salt thus obtained, is again dissolved, boiled, and scummed; and when it is cooled, after sufficient evaporation, the brine yields the saltpetre of commerce. For freight, 20 Cwt. are allowed to the ton. SILK, RAW, is a very soft, fine, bright thread, the work of an insect called bombyx, common in some parts of the East Indies, Persia, China, and in the southern parts of Europe. The silkworm is a species of caterpillar, of which there are several varieties, and, like all others of the same class, undergoes a variety of changes. It is produced from a yellowish coloured egg, about the size of a small pin-head, which has been laid by a kind of greyish coloured moth. These eggs are hatched by putting them into the sun for a few days. When the animal is first protruded from the egg, it is a small active black worm ; when it has attained its full growth, it is from 1 to 1 inch long, and about half an inch in circumference, of a milky or pearl colour. The body is divided into seven rings, to each of which are joined two very short feet; it then begins forming the cocoon by winding the silk, which it draws from its bowels round itself into an oblong roundish ball. During this operation it gradually loses the appearance of a worm; its length is much contracted, and its thickness augmented. By the time the web is finished, it is found to be transformed into an oblong round ball, covered with a smooth shelly skin, and appears to be dead. In this state it remains for several days, entirely motionless in the heart of the cocoon; after which it bursts, like an egg hatching, and from that comes forth a heavy dull looking moth with wings, but these wings it never uses for flying; it only crawls slowly about in the place where it had been hatched. This creature forces its way through the silk covering which the worm had woven, and goes immediately in quest of its mate; after which the female lays the eggs, which on an average may amount to about 200, and both male and female die in a very short time. In Bengal the largest and best cocoons are preserved for the grain, and kept in bags suspended to the roof of the hut of the peasant. When the insect is ready to burst its prison, a few balls are placed in a large basket, on one shelf of a frame provided for the nurture of the worm. The frame in common use consists of 16 shelves, placed in a shed upon vessels filled with water, by way of precaution against ants. After the moths quit their covering, attendance is required to move the males as soon as their functions have been performed, and the females when they have produced their eggs. The basket is carefully covered with a cloth, and in a fortnight the worm quits the egg. They are first fed with mulberry leaves, chopped very fine; as they advance in their growth, they are dispersed into more baskets on the several shelves of the frame, and are supplied with leaves cut into larger pieces, and latterly with whole leaves until the period when the insect quits its food. As soon as it recommences eating, branches of mulberry-trees are thrown on with the leaves upon them, and the insects eat with eagerness, and soon fill the baskets on the whole number of shelves: they arrive at their full size in a little more than a month from their birth, and changing their skins for the last time, are disposed to begin their cones. They are now removed to baskets, divided into spiral compartments, where they spin their webs, and cover themselves with silk. When the cocoon is completed, a few are set apart for propagation, and the rest are exposed to the heat of the sun, for the purpose of killing the chrysalis. The peasants sell the cocoons to the filatures, or winding houses, most of whom are in the employ of the Company. From the rejected balls they wind the silk by the following process:-The cocoons must be allowed to cool after exposure to the sun. The excretions of the worms are collected from the feeding baskets, and thrown into a hole dug for that purpose. The balls of silk are put into the hole, which is carefully covered up. In two days they are taken out, and boiled in an earthen vessel, and the silk is wound off by a hand-reel, or by the common one, both of which are simple, and do not differ materially from the machine used for that purpose in Europe. From the fur picked off the cocoons, and from those which are perforated, coarse silk is spun, which is used for making carpets and other purposes. The following is the mode of propagating the mulberry-tree in Bengal. |