The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1877-09-20
TURKISH CARPET
How md Where They are Made
teresting Description.

Three small towns---Oushak, hcua
and Ghiordess, within the boundaries {
Greater Phrygia, in Asia Minor, have
preserved to the present day the carpet
manufacture, one of the few remaining
branches of Turkish manufacture and
it is rather an interesting point to not.
that this manufacture has not niue
changed its locality from time i'm
memorial.
Oushak, the largest of the three towns
/ above mentioned, is situated on an ele-
/ waited plateau, between two and three
/ thousand feet above the level of the sea-.
! It has a population of over fifteen thou
sand inhabitants, of which only about a
/ third are Christians. The houses are
/ built of sun-bried bricks in the usual
/ style of modern Turkish towns; and plas-
/ tered over inside and out with al sort Ofdark
! clay, which gives the place a somber
! appearance perfectly in keeping with the
character of its people. Quaint old fOun-
/ tains and wells, mosques and minarets,
/ Overhanging latticed balconies, and dark
narrow, crooked and dirty streets charac-
terize the place even more than other
| towns nearer the seabOard. Wool in
/ every stage of progression, from the mo-
ment it is clipped from the sheep to its
/ final dyed and spun state, fit for the
| hands of the manufacturer, meets the
| eye in every direction, and indicates the
| peculiar 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 manufac-
J ture. The mechanism employed is of
! the simplest and rudest description. A
vertical frame supports two horizontal
/ rollers about five feet apart. The warp,
| of any required length, consisting of an
| upper and lower thread is wound round
! the upper roller, and the ends fastened
/ to the lower one, from which the work Is
/ commenced by the women and girls, who
! kneel or sit crOss-legged in row before
| the frame. Each woman has q certain
width of work allotted to her, and pro-
! ceeds to knot the tufts which form the
! pile in rows, using different colors to
! form d pattern. Each tuft is knOtted
/ independently of the other to an
upper and lower thread of the warp
/ When a 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 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 correspond
ing 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 variOusly col
ored woods which hang in balls over the
frame, is carried on with the most sur
prisiDg rapidity, the pattern being mean
while worked from memory, unless some
new design is to be made. FOrty-fOur
rows of pile are thus knotted in the
course of the day, and for this amount
of labor each werkwOman il paid from
six to twelve cents daily. It will thus
be seen that the women are the sole man
ufacturers, that no mechanism or instru-
ments 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
tremendously Colored, and certainly the
most durable, carpets In the world.
We have so far spoken only of the
women; the mems share of the industry
is to collect and dye the wool for the
manufacturers, and manage the sale of
the carpets when completed-tasks light
enough, compared to the irksome labor
of the females, but quite consistent with
the oriental notion of mans superiority
over the less favored sex. The dyes
which by their permanency have given
much of the celebrity to the Turkey
carpet, are mostly produced in the neigh
bOrhOod Nader 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 Ghior-
dess and Koula, the other two manufac-
turing 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
hvelier and more suitable to the tastes of
American purchasers than the somewhat
dark appearance of the Oushak carpets,
which are in almost general use for di-
ming rooms in England.