The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-04-06
Regulating at Mirzapore.


few years in connection with its great
rug and carpet industries, and there are
now few of our homes in which this ser.
viceable and beautiful branch of house.
| furnishing has been atall followed where
the Mirzapore rug is not highly priced
and justly valued.
The town is beautifully situated on the
south bank of the Ganges, in the province
Of Allahabad, but thirty miles below the
ancient city of Benares, and is directly
| approached from Calcutta by q journey
Of three hundred and fifty miles on the
trunk line of the great East Indian Rail.
way. Prior to the period of the mutiny,
when the vast internal commerce of the
empire was confined to its rivers, and the
accumulated products of its rich an6
varied soil sought by Natures course it,
markets on the bosom of the Ganges.
MirzapOre was one of the largest inland
trading towns of Hindustan, great in.
digo and cotton depot, and the residence
of considerable colony of opulent Eu
ropean merchants and traders; but the
advent of railroads has changed its char
acter, and its extended reach on the
Ganges' bank, once the busy scene Of
commercial strife, is almost deserted.
and in its stead clusters of native habita
tons and inferior Hindoo temples are
seen among the growing trees.
A few of the other European residents
indigo growers, whose plantations Lie
in the surrounding district-retain their
early residences or town bungalows and
dispense their proverbial hospitality tc
the traveller; but with a single exception
that of Mr.. Bernhard Howard, the
father of the Mirzapore carpet industry,
which he has fcstered for thirty years
the European mercantile class is unrep-
resented. The truly Oriental beauty and
perfect quality of the rugs, so much
sought for and so highly valued in the
European and American markets, are
almost entirely due to the quiet energy,
correct taste and knowledge of Oriental
design of this gentleman. To person
of taste, or the love of Eastern art, what
can appear more glaringly absurd or
painful than a cold, stiff English pattern
in n rug, prominently offensive, and
spelling at the same time its wealth OF
Oriental color? How many Turkish and
Persian rugs are thus ruined; yet what
a number are seen about us the result oil
careless purchase or Indifferent taste.
In the dirty mud huts of the villagers
it is most interesting to observe the slow
yet regular growth of the beautiful pat.
terms as developed by the busy. untiring
hands of a dozen or more half-naked
natives, and which the visitor traces in
imagination to their future display in the
attractive windows of Regent Street OF
Broadway, and eventually to the cham
bers of Western homes.
As the native quarter OF the city is
approached the busy wool-carders, the
spinning of the native women, the
labyrinth of dye-pots, the dyeing yarn:
of various colors in the sunlight. bespeak
the industry of the place. The huts. OF
common structure and one material,
mud, contain but one apartment. Sunk
in the ground to e depth of two or three
feet is a longer roller of wood, perhaps
six inches in diameter and three or fouI
yards in length, supported at either end
BY iron rods and movable at pleasure:
upon this shaft the rug is rolled as the
work advances; attached to the roller
and extending to the beams above are
the close, strong threads of the wary,
and in the rear, suspended from the cell,
ing, with hanging ends of convenient
distance, are countless balls of yarn OF
varied color and shade; beneath these
sit the native workmen and boys. I'm.
mediately opposite, at the front of the
hut, seated upon a mat, is the pattern
reader or overseer, while upon the
ground before him is the reversed pat
tern of the rug whose manufacture he sc
skillfully directs; it requires the very
closest attention, rapidity of thought,
sight and unhagging application on hi:
part to keep the dozen or more men
before him busy, for not thread is
woven but at his direction or verbal Or
der. rs calling each workman by name
and noting his position, he orders the
number and color of the yarns to be used,
as he traces them upon the pattern al
his feet. The workman in the rear
seizes the end of the yarn called, weaves
the number ordered, the substance is
driven home by an iron comb, the rough
edges clipped and the rug rolls on tc
completion, every thread OF wool and
every stitch by hand.
The western demand has so vastly
increased as to treble the production
within the past four or five years, and
there are now many thousands of people.
men, women and children, engaged in
the manufacture of rugs alone at thi: |
centre. Yet, when the slow progress OF
hand work is considered, and the fact
that an ordinary drawing room rug is
the result of the united labor of three or
four men for perhaps week or more.
the product is not alarming, nor is the |
cost of skilled labor, which commands |
in this particular branch from five to |
twenty cents per day.
The extensive demand for eastern rug:
arrested the attention of the Indian Gov |
eminent some years since and suggested |
the expediency of profitably utilizing
the convict labor and establishing the in
duStry in the Central and Presidency
jails: Itwould naturally appear unjust
and undignitied for the General Govern
ment of country to thus enter the open |
market in competition with private capt
tai, and it has since Occasioned no little |
comment; yet it is question if this
venture has not improved and advanced
the art in the northwest, as the rugs
manufactured at the Agra and Lahore
jails command to-day higher prices than
any other grade or make in India, the
quality naturally being superior, the re-
suit of the slow skilled labor of long
term or life convicts.
General Grant and party. during their
tour in India in 1879, were greatly inter.
ested in the work as seen at the Agr5
Central Jail, and their visit to that insti.
tuition resulted in the booking of quite
extensive orders from the General and
his friends, to be subsequently filled.