The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1883-08-04
Fashions III Floor Covers.

At the commencement OF the present
century Turkey carpets were rarities and
Iuxuries ii England but seldom to be
seen, and only to be met with in the
houses of noblemen ex merchant princes
connected with the Lsgalt and oriental
trades. Within the last few years the
beauty, durability end comfort of these
carpets have been appreciated, more
particularly since what is known as the
aesthetic craze" has set in, and aided bv
the fashion of the day" flor unless an
article does become fashionable, no mat
ter how intrinsically beautiful or good il
may be, it does not get generally
adopted) oriental floor COVERINGS of all
sorts and sizes, from the cheap cotton In
aia durrie and the Kurd and the
Belaochistap rugs. to the sumptuous
Persian and Turkey carpets, have grown
immensely in ponulS favor. The trade
in these has rapidly ana wonderfully In
creased, and the looms of Ouchack and
Koulba, in Anatolia, province of
Asiatic Turkey, find employment for
many thousands of workmen and work
women, to say nothing of children, in
producing the large amount of these
beautiful carpets to supply the markets
OF Western Europe and America. The
home consumption of Turkey carpets in
Turkey itself and Egypt is very small in
comparison to the large quantities ex.
ported from Smyrna for the use of the
Giaour nations of the West. England
is by far the largest customer, taking
nearly six per cent of the whole. Next
comes France, to which country about
one-fourth of the products of the
Ar,otn1iop Ioopac GnIo 1fc nr6
remainder is sent to the United States of
America.
Turkey carpets are always made in
one single piece; and takes almost as
| many months to manufacture as the same
| quantity in superficial extent of ordinary
Brussels or tapestry carpet, which are
made by steam machinery, take days, and
their durability is in like proportion.
worn out in one generation? Persian
carpets are fine texture and more costly,
though we may be permitted to doubt
| whether anything is woven nowadays in
| quite so elaborate a style as that de-
scribed in the story of Schemselnihan
and the Persian prince as forming the
floor covering of the formers palace.
After minutes description of the beau
ties of the principal chamber, we are told
that the carpet of this splendid salon
was composed of a single piece of cloth
Of gold upon which were woven lunches
of roses in red and white silk" The
valleys of Khorassan the scene of many
| of the events in "Lallah Rookh') Kur-
distan, Kesman and the district of Iran
are now the chief places Of manufacture.
those from Kurdistan being esteemed
| the best
| The Indian carpets are various in
| style and texture, and come from oil
parts of that collection of countries and
states classed together under the one
word India. Cashmere, celebrated also
for its unrivaled shawls Afghanistan
and the Punjaub on the extreme north
Scinde and the Beloochistan on the north
and west; and all the countries of Central
India, including the dominions of Nissan
and the districts of the Mala bar coast
each produce their specialties in carpets
Rugs is the more correct term, for un-
like the prod uctions of Persia and Tur
key. which are made al large as thirty
feet square, they are comparatively
small size.
It may be remembered that the en-
chanted carpet purchased at Bishagar by
Prince Houssain for forty purses is men
toned as being "about six feet square,
on which the three brothers are described
as sitting together when they were trans
ported to their fathers palace. The us'
of these rug sized carpets is now becom
ing very general, and few houses are t.
be found. possessing and pretenslons t.
comfort, where one or more of thes
oriental floor coverings are not to b
met with in hall, library or bed room.-
Building and Engineering Times.