become black, because people in these countries are unwilling to buy cloths when the gold and silver are black.
As
for cloths dyed with indigo, either violet or black, it is necessary to
take care that the workers do not blacken the threads of gold at the
ends of the pieces, and that they do not beat the pieces too much after
being folded, because, in order to make them smooth, they sometimes
beat them so much that when one comes to unfold them he finds them
broken at each fold.
It
should also be remarked that upon the fag end of pieces of cloth the
Indians print with a seal and gold leaf an Arabesque flower, which
extends the whole width of the piece. But if the pieces are destined
for France, it is necessary to forbid the workers to impress this
flower, which costs half a piastre, in order to save this sum on the
price of the piece. But if it is for exportation to the Indian islands,
anywhere in Asia, or even to a certain part of America, it is necessary
that the flower should be on the fag end of the pieces, and that it
should be preserved entire, otherwise one is unable to sell them.
As
for coloured and printed cloths, they are coloured and printed while
crude, and it is necessary to take care that the work is finished
before the end of the rains, because, when they are washed, the more
the waters are disturbed, so much the more do the colours applied with
a brush or printing block remain vivid.1
It
is easy to distinguish the cloths which are printed from those done
with a brush, and if the broker is intelligent he will distinguish the
difference in the beauty of one painted cloth from another by the
cleanness of the work. But for the fineness and other qualities of the
stuff, they are more difficult to distinguish than in the case of white
cloths, and consequently it is necessary to observe more precaution.
Frauds practised in Cottons. .
Cottons are the goods which are always first to be manufactured and
the earliest to be delivered in the stores of Surat, because they are
all spun in the Province of Gujarat.
1 In vol. i, p. 46, this is differently stated, but apparently it is so through an error in the mode of expression.
