Do - pattas, especially those of Benares, aro perhaps the most exquisitely beautiful and prized of all the ornamental fabrics of India ; and it is quite impossible to describe the effects of gold and silver thread, of the most delicate and ductile description imaginable, woven in broad, rich bonlers, and profusion of gold and silver flowers, or the elegance and intricacy of most of the arabesque patterns, of the ribbon borders, or broad stripes. How such articles are woven with their exquisite finial' and strength, fine a.s their quality is, in the rude handlooms of the country, it is hard to understand. All these fabrics are of the most delicate and delightful colours,—the creamy white, and shades of pink, yellow, green, mauve, violet, and blue, AM clear yet subdued, and always accord with the thread used, and the style of ornamentation, whether in gold or silver, or both combined. Many are of more decided colours,— black, scarlet, and crimson, chocolate, dark green, and madder ; but whatever the colour may be, the ornamentation is chaste and suitable. For the most part, the fabrics of Benares aro not intended for ordinary washing ; but the dyers and scourers of India have a process by which the former colour can be discharged from the fabric, and it can then be re-dyed. The gold or silver work is also carefully pressed and ironed, and the piece .is restored, if not to its original beauty, at least to a very wearable condition. The do pattas of Pytun, and indeed most others except Benares, are of a stronger fabric. Many of them are woven in fast colours, and the gold thread— silver is rarely used in them—is more substantial than that of Benares. On this account they are preferred in Central India and the Dekhan,—not only because they are ordinarily more durable, but because they bear washing or cleaning better. In point of delicate beauty, however, if not of richness, they are not comparable with the fabricsof Benares.
Scarfs are in use by every one,—plain muslins, or muslins with figured fields and borders without colour, plain fields of MUS1111 with narrow edging of coloured silk or cotton (avoiding gold thread), and narrow ends. Such articles, called sehla in India, are in everyday use among millions of Hindus and Mahomedans, men and women. They are always open-textured =slims, and the quality ranges from very ordinary yarn to that of the finest Dacca fibres. The texture of the dhotee,is, sarees, and loongees manufactured in Britain and sent to India, is not that required by the people. nor what they are accustomed to. It is in general too elose,—too much like calico, in fact,—which of course makes the garment hot, heavy in wear, and difficult to wash. Again, the surface becomea rough, and, as it is generally called, fuzzy in use, while the native fabric remains free.
Few native women of any class or degree wear white ; if they do wear it, the dress has broad borders and ends. Ilut all classes wear coloured cloths,—black, red, blue, oc.casionally orange and green, violet and grey. All through
Western, Central, and Southern India, sarees are striped aud checked in an infinite variety of patterns. Narrainpet, Dhanwar, and 3Iuktul, in the Nizam's territories ; Gudduk and Bettigerry Dharwar ; Kolhapur, Nasik, Yeokla, and many other manufacturing towns in the Dekhan ; Aimee in the south, and elsewhere, send out articles of excellent texture, with beautifully-arranged colours and patterns, both in stripes and checks. For the costly and superb fabrics of cloths of gold and silver (kimkhab), and the classes of washing satins (mushroo and hernroo), even if European skill could imitate them by the handloorn, it would be impossible to obtain the gold and silver thread unless it were imported from India. The native mode of making this thread is known, but the result achieved by the Indian workman is simply the effect of skilful delicate manipulation. The gold and silver cloths (kimkhab) are used for state dresse.s and trousers, the latter by men and women ; and ladies of rank usually possess petticoats or skirts of these gorgeous fabrics. Mushroo and hemroo are not used for tunics, but for men's and women's trousers, and women's skirts; as also for covering bedding turd pillows. They aro very strong and durable fabrics, wash well, and proierve their colour, however long worn or roughly used ; but they can hardly be compared with English satins, which, however, if more delicate in colour and texture, are unfitted for the purposes to which the Indian fabrics aro applied. For example, a labada or dressing gown made of scarlet mushroo in 18-12, had been washed over and over again, and subjected to all kinds of rough usage, yet the satin remained still unfrayed, and the colour and gloss as bright as ever. Many of the borders of loongees, dhotees, and sarees are like plain silk ribbons, in some instances corded or ribbed, in others flat The saree, boonee, baf La, jore, ekpatta, goincha, etc..of Dacca, have latterly been made of imported British yarn. Fabrics of a mixed texture of cotton and silk, are in Dacca designated by various narnes, nowbuttee, kutan, roomee, apjoola, and lucka ; and when embroidered with the needle, as many of them frequently are, they are called kusheeda. The silk used iu their manufacture is the indi genous inuga silk of Assam and Sylhet, but the cotton thread employed was lately almost entirely British yarn, of qualities varying from Nos. 30 to 80. These cloths are made exclusively for the Jedda and Bussora markets, and a considerable stock is yearly imported in the Arab vessels that trade between Calcutta and these ports. Pilgrims, too, from the vicinity of Dacca, not unfrequently take an investment of them, which they dispose of at the great annual fair held at Meena, near Mecca. They are used by the Arabs chiefly for turbans and gowns. The golden colour of the muga silk gives to some of these cloths a rich lustrous appearance ; pieces made of native-spun cotton threads and of the best kind of muga silk, are admired.