The
cotton cloths brought from Agra, Lahore, and Bengal are sold by corges,
and cost from 16 up to 300 or 400 rupees and even more, according as
the merchant directs them to be made. The cotton cloths from Renonsari
and Broach are 21 cubits long when crude, but only 20 cubits when
bleached. Those from Baroda are 20 cubits when crude, and 19 1/2 when
bleached. The cotton cloths or bäftas from these three towns are of two
kinds ; for there are both broad and narrow kinds; it is the narrow of
which I have just spoken, and they are sold at from 2 to 6 mahmüdis
each. The broad bäftas are \\ cubit wide, and the piece is 20
cubits long. They are commonly sold at from 5 to 12 mahmüdis, but the
merchant on the spot can have them made much wider and finer, up to the
value of 500 mahmüdis the piece. In my time I have seen two pieces of
them sold, for each of which 1,000 mahmüdis were paid. The English
bought one and the Dutch the other, and both were 28 cubits long.
Muhammad 'Ali Beg, when returning to Persia from his embassy to India,
presented Cha Sen II x with a coco-nut of the size of an
ostrich's egg, enriched with precious stones ; and when it was opened a
turban was drawn from it 60 cubits in length, of a muslin so fine that
you would scarcely know what it was that you held in your hand.2 When
returning from one of my voyages, I had the curiosity to take with me
an ounce of thread, of which a livre's weight cost 600 mahmüdis,3
and the late Queen-Dowager, with many of the ladies of the Court, was
surprised at seeing a thread so delicate, which almost escaped the view.
Concerning
Spun Cotton. Both spun and unspun cotton come from the Provinces of
Burhânpur and Gujarat. The unspun cottons are not sent to
1 Shäh Safi or Safavî II (1629-42). Tavernier describes him in the Persian Travels, Paris ed., 1676, p. 524. Muhammad 'Ali Beg was treasurer of Shäh 'Abbäs and Shah Safi (Malcolm, Hist, of Persia, 2nd ed., i. 365 ; Manucci, iv. 433).
a
This must have been like the famous Dacca muslins, upon which such
names as äbrawän, 'flowing water', were conferred (Mukharji, Art Manufactures of India, 318
ff. ; cf. vol. i. 47). It is said that a pair of the kid gloves,
formerly made at Limerick, could be enclosed in a walnut shell (Notes and Queries, 11th Ser., ii. 297).
3 i.e. about £22 10o.
