1 128 KASHMIRIAN LOOMS.
2 ubra, from ubr (a cloud), or alwan-i-sadah (without
3 colour), if white ; and if a border be worked on it, the
4 remaining- white is called " mutun." Alwan, as the
5 shawl stuff is called when free from ornament, is not
6 often, if ever, made up by the Kashmiri weavers
7 of the natural colour of the poshm, and may be, of
8 course, dyed of any colour, red, blue, green, yellow,
9 &c.
10 When made with coloured stripes or flowers on it,
11 the chograh of the Afghans, or al-khalek, the long
12 under-coat of the Persians, are made from it. If the
13 pattern be worked with the needle, the shawl is far
14 inferior in every respect to those in which the pattern
15 is woven in. An excellent pair of the former descrip-
16 tion may be purchased in Kashmir for 150 rupis
17 (about 10/.), whereas an equally good pair of the
18 Usui eh (the real), or the latter kind, could not be
19 procured for less than 700 or 800 rupis.
20 The productions of the Kashmirian looms, which
21 are of old and unimproved construction, are very
22 numerous : Du-shalah, or two shawls, they being
23 always made in pairs; Jamaweh, for bedding;
24 Rumal, or handkerchiefs ; Hasheyi, or the shawl of a
25 coloured ground with a small border ; Urmuk, re-
26 sembling very strong nankin ; and the Yek-Tar (one-
27 thread), a most light and beautiful fabric, being of one-
28 half the thickness of the common shawl, and which I
29 was told was invented for the Sikh turbans.
30 Besides the above, gloves and socks are
31 manufactured from the shawl wool ; but they also
32 make Gulbudun, or red silk cloth for ladies' trousers,
33 and Chikun, or flowers worked in silk upon a cotton
34 ground, similar to those procurable at Multan. Sashes
35 and trouser-strings are also made from silk ; whilst