The general practice in Cashmere is to shear the sheep only once in the year, the operation taking place 15 or 20 days after the return of the great heats, Nvlicti, from the perspiration of the animals, the wool may have be come more soft and pliant. During the period of the shearing, the sheep are washed ( ommonly twice a day, or oftener, bill as well for the safety of the animals, as to guard against crisping or hardness in the wool, only at those times in the morning or in the afternoon w hen some degree of diminution has taken place in the strength of the suit's rays. It is indeed an estimable and pecu liar quality of the Cashm•rian wool, that it has no hard coarse part ; a quality the more deserving of notice, as it is not possessed in common with it even by the wool of the Spanish sheep.
The Cashmerian wool, exclusive of the fleeces of lambs under two years of age, which are set apart for certain inferior purposes, is divided into the avouch, or the wool of the young sheep, and the duaume, which is the name given to that of the old. The first of these kinds is a little shorter than the other ; it is obtained from sheep between the age of three years, when the shearing of what, in the language of the country, is called the toms, begins, and that of seven or eight. The duaume is longer than the avouch, a little less greasy, weaker, and less silky. These two kinds of wool arc each subdivided into two sorts, that of the back and that or the belly. The wool of the belly is used only for the manufacture of a particular stuff, that is consumed in the country and the neighbouring provinces. The finer parts of the wool having been first exposed to the vapour of a slight Icy, formed from the ashes of the leaves of the banana tree, or of a clayey barren and white earth, which by the Indians is called °lc, then washed with the farina of a small cylindric bean, called moungue, known in bo tany by Lie name of mango, and lastly rinsed repeatedly in pure water, are employed, as they are of the one or the other of the descriptions above named, either in the manufacture of sham Is, or of those pieces of cloth which have retained the name of the country, and which it has been so often attempted, hut commonly with such indif ferent success, to imitate in Europe.
The common fine shawls manufactured in Europe arc the white : in the preparation of others, the yarn of the wool is previously stained with such colours as may be judged the best suited for sale. These shawls have flow
ered .corners, ant a border of greater or less breadth, according to the price. The border, which usuany dis plays a variety of figures and colours, is attached to the shawls after fabrication, but in so nice a manner that the junction is not discernible. The tcxturc of these s:tawl4 resembles that of the shalloon of to which it has probably communicated the oar' • They arc usually made ells in length, and half an ell in breadth. The price at the loom of an ord:oal'Y shawl is eight rupees ; thence in proportion to they produce from 15 to 20; even 40 are paid for very fine pieces; and by the introduction of a great deal of blower-work, the value, or rather the price, may be increased even to 100 rupees. The superfine shawls are those that are made of the wool of the camel. This wool, which is more beautiful than that of Vigonia, is extremely scarce, being found only on the forehead and around the ears of that animal. It is dear in proportion to its scarce ness, so that the shawls formed from this material, be sides costing, even at the manufactory, the sum of ten guineas, are at that price with difficulty to be procured. Shawls, the weft of which is camel's wool, are distin guished by the name of cacacheti ; the white, with the weft of sheep's wool, are called seaumi ; and the rest are known by the appellation of paNsari. The superior soft ness and beauty of the shawls of Cashmere, comparative ly even with those formed from similar materials in the neighbouring provinces, is attributed by Bernier to something in the water of the country. They have a very extensive sale over all the Western and Southern Asia ; and, agreeably to the remark of Volney, which seems as if intended to indicate the variety of the cir cumstances in which they are to be met with, they make a part of the dress of the Egyptian Manielukes, and they are worn by English ladies. The Cashmerian pieces of cloth are more than sixty French ells in length, and rather beyond one-half ell in breadth. The price at the manu factories amounts only to the moderate sum of 15d. These cloths are far superior to the imitations of them either in England or in France, and they last much lon ger ; a superiority to be attributed no doubt to the better quality of the wool.