The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1877-09-21
TURKISH CARPETS,
HOW AND WuERE THEY ARE MADE-AN
INTERESTING DESCRIPTION.

lNIERESl1NU
Three small tOwns-OuShak, + Ouia
and Ghiordoss, within the boundaries
of Greater Phrygia, in Asia Minor,
have preserved to the present day the
carpet manufacture, one OF the few re-
naming branches of Turkish industry
and l. is rather an intert sting point to
note that this manufacture has not
much changed its locality from time
immemorial.
Oushak, the largest of the three
towns above mentioned, is situated on
an elevated plateau between 1000 and
5000 feet above the level of the sea.
it has population of over $4,000 in
habitants, of which only about third
are Christians. The houses are built
of sun-dried bricks in the usual style
of modern Turkish towns, and plas
tered over inside and out with a sort
of dark clay, which gives the place
sOmbre appearance perfectly in keeping
with the character Of its people
Quaint old fountains and wells,
mosques aud ninarets, overhanging
latticed balconies, and dark, narrow,
crooked and dirty streets characterize
the place even more than other towns
nearer the seabOard. Wool in every
stage OF progression, from the moment
it is clipped from the sheep to its final
dyed and spun state, fit for She hands
of the manufactures, meets the eye in
every direction, and indicates the Pc
culiar occupation of the inhabitants OF
this busy little town, which, but for
this industry, would in all probability
have shared the decaying tendency of
other AnatOlian towns.
Almost every household of any i'm
portance carries on the carpet manu-
facture. The mechanism employed is
of the simplest and rudest description.
a vertical frame supports two hori-
zontal rollers about five feet apart.
The warp, of any required length,
consisting of an upper and lower
thread, is wound around the upper
roller, and the ends fastened to the
lower one, from which the work is
commenced by the women and girls,
who knccl or sit cross. legged in a row
before the frame Each workwoman
has a certain width of work allotted to
her, and proceeds to knot the tufts
which form the pile in rows, using
different coIOrs to form the pattern.
Each tuft is knotted independently of
the others to an upper and lower
thread of the warp. When row is
thus tied the tuft is passed with the
hand between the warp, and then
beaten down with a heavy wooden
comb. The pile is now clipped smooth
with Il large pair of shears, and the
next row above the first commenced
with. As the work proceeds upward
it is rolled over the under roller, and a
corresponding length of warp unrolled
from the upper one, until the required
length of carpet is made. The tying
of the tufts and the picking out of the
variouslv colOred woods which hang
in balls over the frame, is carried on
with the most surprising rapidity, the
pattern being meanwhile worked from
memory, unless some new design is to
be made. FOrtv-four rows of pile are
thus knotted in the course of the dav
and for this am punt of labor each
workwoman is paid from six to twelve
cents daily. 1t will thus be seen that
the NOlltll are Iiic SOlC manufacturers, :,
that no mechanism or instruments
beyond a frame, shears and comb are
used and that the design is worked
from memory. Yet, with such limited
means at their disposal, these skillful
workers cOntrive to produce the most
harmOniously colorel and certainly the
most durable carpets in the world.
We have so far spoken only of the
women; the mems share of the indus
try is to collect and dye the wool for
the manufacturers, ard manage the
sac of the carpets when completed
tasks light enough, compared to the
ifhsome labor Of the females, but quite
consistent with the Oriental notion OF
mans superiority over the less favored
sex. The dyes which by their per-
manency have given much of the
celebrity to the Turkey carpet, arc
mostly produced in the neighborhood.
Madder roots for the reds, and yellow
berries for the yellow and orange, are
grown in the surrounding districts,
and indigo for the blue is imported
from abroad. The carpets and rugs
OF Ghiordess and Koula, the other
two manufacturing towns, are made
on precisely the same principle and
in the same primitive manner as those
of Oushak, but the work is of finer
description, and the colors livelier and
more suited to- the tastes of 4 mericar
purchasers than the somewhat darkel
appearance of the Oushak carpets
which are in almost general use fol
dining-rooms in England.
.unr Half e ,l;r I,I-o II