Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1859-01-19
Cashmere Shawls and their Value

The Cashmere goat has been introduced
into France, England, South Carolina and
Tennessee. The value of q flock may be
estimated from the fact that no real Thb-
ct goat has ever boon sold for less than a
thousand dollars. This enormous price,
moreover, is not a speculative one, for no
ileeced animal has wool of such fineness,
sOitness, and durability. The wool of all
the Thibet goats in Tennessee for exam
| pie has boon engaged at New York this
year at eight dollars and a half per pound,
the purchasers designing to send it to
Paisley, lin Scotland, in order to be man.
ulactured into shawls.
The prices paid for real Cashmere
shaw.s, or those woven in India, have
sometimes been almost fabulous. A full
sized shawl, such as is called in America a
long shawl, ordinarily commands in Paris
or London, from five hundred to five
thousand dollars, according to quality.
Scaris and square shaws, being smaller,
sell for less. 1t is a mistake, however, to
suppose that all these shawls are manu-
| facturei III In0ia, in the shape in which
they are sold here Generally, indeed, the
centres and borders come out separately,
and are put together afterwards in sizes,
and often patterns, to suit customers.
Moreover u large portion Of the shawls
sold rs real India ones, are actually made
i'm France; for the Thibet goat was intro
duced into that country more than thirty
years ago, and the Cashmere shawls imita-
ted with considerable skill. Judges of the
article pretend to say, however, that the
real India shawl can be detected by its ha-
wing less evenly woven web,as also from
its brighter colors 1t is likewise said the
border Of the genuine Cashmere shawl is
invariably woven in small pieces, which
are afterwards sewcd together, as the
whole border is substantially sewed on to
the centre. But other authorities deny
| that the skill of India is sufficient to
! Jroche shawl: in other words, to weave
| the border and centre in one piece, or run
the pattern of the former over the latter.
| The persons who, in our own country
at the present day, purchase wOrstcd or
wCOlen goods under the denomination OF
! Cashmeres, are or ought to be aware, that
such goods are Cashmeran only in name.
A real Cashmere shawl made by the in
habitants of that Indian valley from the
wool of n peculiar variety of goat reared
on the plains of Thibet, is a most costly
article, eagerly sought after by the rajahs
and sultans of the East, bat finding its way
to Europe very rarely indeed. To make a
pair of large and handsome Cashmere
shawls requires the labor of twelve or four
teen men for half year. The late Run.
jet Singh, the chief of Lahore, gave five
thousand rupees for pair Of those woolen
shawls, the pattern of which represented
his victories. The animals from which
the material is obtained are covered by
nature with two kinds Of coat for clothing,
the one fine, curly, generally grey, and
Iimparting to the skin down more or less
thick as if to guard it against cold and
damp, the other course, lanl, and giving a
general color to the animal and finer
coating which is used for the fine shawls,
the quantity produced is limited, and
therefore high priced.