SHAWL-MANUFACTURE. Perhaps no garment is of higher antiquity than the shawl; indeed, its simplicity of form would lead US to infer that it wits the earliest in use. But of its manufacture we have no dittinet account until the reign of the emperor Jelal-ed-din Mohammed Akbar, in .1536, when the celebrate I Cashmere shawls were the most important manufactures of the world. end were thought worthy to be minutely described in the rlyin-1,-.Akburi, or the "institutes of the emperor." In that work four distinct classes of shawls, all of goat's wool, are. described. The first were of remarkable light ness nod softness, ; nd were usually self-colored, and made of the wool undyed; the sec ond were woven of wool in the natural colors—viz., white, black, and gray—these were probably arranged so as to form a plaid pattern similar to the shepherd's plaid of Scot land, which is of oriental origin; the third were called gold-leared, probably from being embroidered with that material; and the fourth were long shawl-pieces large enough to inwrap the NV1101e. body. So carefully was this manufacture fostered that it received the chief attention e f the emperor, and every shawl manufactured was carefully described and registered, and the number of manulacturers was so great that in Lahore alone it is stated there were upward of 1000. The manufacture, in later times, passed through
many during last century it declined greatly; but in 11--.0 it had again risen, and there were then about 16,000 looms at work. From 2,000 to 3 000 of these beautiful fabrics are annually imported into Great Britain; but the admirable imitations now produced by our Paisley manufacturers, and by the French, are exerting great influence over the trade. The true Cashmere shawls are woven in many pieces, and joined together with great artistic skill; those of Britain and France are, however, woven in one piece, the loom being worked IT hand, and of course furnished with a Jacquard machine for the production of the pattern. Besides the Cashmere shawls and their Euro pean imitations there is an infinite variety of shawls made of various materials—es silk embroidered, and in the form of crape; thread, cotton, and silk lace; and wool in a great variety of styles.