. Indika. The country and the people of India and Ceylon . -ern end of the Mediterranean the city which to this day is his bestclaim to immortality. Long before the beginning of the Christianera there cannot be a question that Indian products found amarket in that multiform city. Abu Fazl says that, in his day,the arts and sciences of India were three hundred in number. Among the more prominent industries the weaving of rugsand shawls may be mentioned. The contrivance is very rudeand primitive, but the products are exceedingly rich. The pat-terns are as intricate as they are beautiful, and som
. Indika. The country and the people of India and Ceylon . -ern end of the Mediterranean the city which to this day is his bestclaim to immortality. Long before the beginning of the Christianera there cannot be a question that Indian products found amarket in that multiform city. Abu Fazl says that, in his day,the arts and sciences of India were three hundred in number. Among the more prominent industries the weaving of rugsand shawls may be mentioned. The contrivance is very rudeand primitive, but the products are exceedingly rich. The pat-terns are as intricate as they are beautiful, and some of themare of great antiquity. There is little doubt that rugs wovento-day in the valley of the Ganges, and shawls woven in Kash- * Ker, The Land of Ind, pp. 222, 223. THE IX1) A /SI) I •> TRIE< 543 mir, are reproductions of patterns already old before the Aryanspoured down in dense masses from their home in the table-landsof northwestern Asia. Many of the jails of India arc centresfor the weaving of fine rugs. The convicts arc, in this GOLD-BROCADE WEAVERS. made serviceable to the state. There is great demand for therugs woven in the jails. In Agra I saw a long row of ••lifers,or prisoners for life, who were chained to each other by the feet,engaged in weaving a magnificent rug for Queen Victoria, and 544 INDIKA. another row weaving a rug for the ex-Empress Eugenie, the lat-ter probably as a gift for an altar. I found that in both Agraand Ahmadabad there was a scanty supply ofwoven wares on hand. Dr. Tyler, the superin-tendent of the jail at Agra, told me that ordersmust be given months in advance, in order tosecure a good rug. Paper is manufactured in different parts of In-dia. The Serampore paper is now the favoritefor general printing. Perhaps the paper longestknown in India is that made in the HimalayaMountains, from the inner bark of the DaphneCannabria. The weaving of cotton goods hasbeen carried on from remote times, for even theKig-Veda speaks of
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