CHAPTER XVIII OF MANUFACTURES HAVING Discours'd of the Mechanick Arts of the Persians, I must treat at the same time of their Manufactures. They have very good Hones in Cotton, in Goats and Camels Hair, in Tarn, and especially in Silk, it being a plentiful and common Commodity in Persia; the Natives have addicted themselves particularly to the well-working of it; and 'tis the thing they are best skill'd in, and in which they have the most considerable Manufactures of all their Country. Their Workmen have Reels, Spindles, and Winding-wheels, to wind Silk on, very much like ours. They keep their raw and unwrought Silks in damp Places, which they water sometimes to continue the weight of them, because they sell it by weight; and for the same Reason, they keep that which is wound up in Leathern Bags. I shall pass by several sorts of Stuffs of all Silk, such as Taffeties, Tabbies, Sattins, Turbants, Sashes, Handkerchiefs, and Silk-Stuffs mixed with Cotton-Thread, or with Camel or Goats-hair, which are made all over Persia. I shall only speak of their Brocade. They call Brocade Zerbafe, i. e. Gold Tissue. There is the single Brocade, whereof there are a hundred Sorts; and the double Brocade, which is called D'ouroye, i. e. with two Faces, because it had no wrong side, and the Machmely Zerbafe, or Gold Velvet. They make Gold Brocades which cost fifty Tomans the Gueze or Ell, which being two Foot and half a Quarter long by the French Measure, comes to about thirty Crowns the Inch, or eleven hundred Crowns the Ell. No part of the World affords so dear a Silk. They employ six Men together about the Loom to make it, who use about thirty several Shuttles to weave it, whereas they commonly use but two. Notwithstanding the extraordinary rate of that precious Brocade, the Workmen employ'd in it, do not earn above fifteen or sixteen Pence a Day at it, and can make but the thickness of a Half-crown Piece of it. Those dear Brocades are bought for Curtains and Door-Hangings, which are generally used, and are the most common Furniture of a House, and for Cushions. The Gold Velvet that's wrought in Persia is very charming, especially the curl'd Velvet and all those rich Stuffs, have that admirable Property, that they last for Ever as it were, and the Gold and Silver does not wear off whilst the Work lasts, and keeps still its Colour and brightness: 'Tis true the Silver tarnishes at length, after twenty or thirty Years; yet then it cloth not come off, which I think ought to be imputed to the clearness of the Air, as much as to the goodness of the Work. The finest Looms for those Stuffs, are at Yezd, at Cashan, and likewise at Ispahan; those for Carpets are in the Province of Kirman, and especially at Sistan. Those are the Carpets we commonly call in Europe, Turky Carpets, because they brought them through Turky before they traded with the Persians by the Ocean. The Persians Rule to know good Carpets, and to Rate them by, is to lay their Thumb on the edge of the Carpet and to tell the Threads in a Thumb's breadth, for the more there are, the dearer the Work is: The most Threads there are in an Inch breadth is fourteen or fifteen. The Camel hair Stuffs are wrought especially at Yezd, and at Kirman in Caramania: They call that Camel-wool, Teftick, and also Kourk; it is almost as fine as Beaver-wool, extraordinary soft and smooth in one's Hand, but they can make nothing that's substantial or strong with it. There are also Camlets, Stamines, and Silk and Worsted Druggets made in these Towns. In the Country of Mougan they make the coarse and thick Serges for the Common People. The best Goats-hair Stuffs are woven in Hircania; they are like Barracan; but the finest are made along the Persian Gulf at Dourack. From thence come those sort of Mantles called Habbi, which are Cassocks with Sleeves no longer than a jacket Sleeve, and all of a Piece, without any Seam; some of them are very fine, and commonly striped. The Persians do not understand to make Cloth, but they make very fine and very light Felt Tufts, that are warmer than Cloth, and are a better fence against Rain; they work the Wool of it as the Hatters do the Cony-wool, and make of it Cloaks for rainy Weather for the Mobb: they use it instead of oiled Cloth: They spread it over Floors, either upon the Carpets, to lie the softer on them, or under them, to keep them from the Damp. They make also Calico Cloth very reasonable; but they make none fine, because they have it cheaper out of the Indies than they can make it. They call that Cloth Kerbez, as if one should say, Ass's Webb: From that Word came probably, the Word Carbasson, and the Word Carbaesius, used by the Greeks and Latins, to signify coarse Linnen Cloth. They understand also the painting of Linnen, but not so well as the Indians, because they buy in the. Indies the finest painted Linnen so cheap, that they would get nothing by improving themselves in that Manufacture. A work they understand very well is overlaying with Gold and Silver Linnen Cloth, Taffety, and Sattin; they do it with Moulds, and represent on them what they please, viz. Letters, Flowers, and Figures; and they Stamp them so neatly, that you would think 'tis Gold or Silver Embroidery. They print with Gum-water. They make also Matts and Ozier hand Baskets, which fold together, or roll up very neatly. There can be no finer Matts seen than theirs. The best Manufacture is at Siston, because the Rushes are first brought thither. Those Rushes grow in Fens near the River Tigris, and the River Euphrates. Medieval background and art for this etext courtesy of Return to Table of Contents Last Updated on March 24, 2001 by Lisa and Sylvia.