Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1895-09-26
sERvlAN GsRPITH %tAvgRs.
Although wretchef Peasants, Their worl
n' 'hsh kiWoiih famous i.,'' -

in the year They are so little accus-
toned to, good food that the recruits
from this district can not eat and IL
gest The military rations. Their phys
ical stamina is reduced to so low an
'ebb that the death rate Is very high.
and they can not resist even slight
illnesses. They are content TO Sleep on
the de,mp earth floors of theircottages,
and have so little sense OF enjoyment
that, even when entertainments are or
ganized in the town. none Of the ma
tives attend. Such, in few words, are
the principal facts described in detail
in. my previous correspondence.
Yet it Is this population, these miser
able people, who produce the renowned
and beautiful Prot carpets. Several
efforts, as yet totally unsuccessful,
have been made to improve their con-
dition. and the industry is still .pur-
sued in the primitive manner II first
originated Twas taken by Mr.. Michel
MihailQyitch, who was the leader OF
the Bosnian instruction against the
Turkish occupation, to see several cot
tages where the carpets are made. The
work, is done outside under the shelter
of protruding roof or extemporized
veranda. The framework Of the car.
pet is Of the rudest description, for it
is made with the unshorn trunks of
small trees or shrubs or branches of
larger trees.
A flax thread warp is fastened across
this frame and it is bent up against
the outside wall of the cottage, The
worker seizes so many threads OF the
warp with the fingers of her left hand,
and with her right hand passes behind
them thread Of colored wool which
constitutes the weft No shuttle is
employees; human fingers play the part
of the shuttle. When certain num-
Der of weft-woolen threads have been
thus passed in and out across the
flaXen warp, the worker takes piece
of swood, roughly shaped to initiate
four bent thin fingers of hand. In.
Producing these wooden fingers be-
tween the warp threads, the welt
threads are sharply pushed downward
and tightly jammed together.
Such is the process in all its sim
plicity; easy, but slow. The difficult
ty arises in the making of the designs.
Strange to say, the women have no
drawings, nothing to help them; but
evolve the designs out of their own
minds as they work; making the fig
ures as memory, tradition or magma
ton suggests. The result is not un-
like tapestry, only in the prot carpets
the colored wooden thread is always
laid horizontally over the colorless
vertical warp, which it, of course, con-
ccals. In tapestry the colorless
groundwork consists of welt as well
as warp, and the colored wool is
drawn over both vertically and hori
zontally. Thus in tapestry we have
minute squares of color, whereas in
the prot carpet we have the color ly
ing in horizontal lines.
Prot carpet can be bought at PRO,
from $ to IA dinars the square meter
Two dollars in gold might be considered
the average price per square meter
To make a carpet about a Silogrammt
of wool is required per square meter
The cost of wool just as it comes from
the sheep is 1.s0 dinars or francs il
silver. When carded and washed thu
best qualities are worth $50 dinars thu
kilo. The dyeing of the wool costsl. 80
| ca Tho total nnct fn,. ha
$50 dinars. This is for the first quail
ity, long-haired wool. The short-hai
wool is much cheaper There are il
Prot six exceptionally skilful work
ers, and they are capable Of making
square meter in three days.
All the other wor kers require five t
seven days to make square meter
and the days work is from sunrise t
sunset For q days work the fully
qualified weavers earn 40 to so Ger
times, or in American money to [
cents. But, attached to these fully
qualified workers are a number c
other workers who, under differen
pretexts, are made to work for YER
much less. At the first cottage Wis
tied found a bright pleasant youn
girl, IA years old, who only earned
centimes, penny or 2 cents, day
She said she was learner, was livip
with her parents and was working S
as to earn enough money to get maj
ried OF course inquired how muc
money she required to get married
that is to say to possess sufficier
dowry to be able to marry some one !
her own station in life.
She replied that about 1870 dinars, {
1874, would be suitable sum. Thong
this sum was modest enough, it repr
scented 1900 days work at cents, @
the supposition that she never spent
single cent of her earnings on hersel
Then 1t was explained that the ma
riage portion need not be all in cas-
but the greater part was generally
kind, and l was forthwith shown
number of knitted wooden socks a
. ready made for the as yet unknow
, husband. A girl, found,
. generally expected to preset
!, her husband, on marriage, with
/. some twenty pair of hand-knitte
f, wooden socks with elaborate colore
designs over the instep, and some OF
= hundred and fifty to two hundrt
v meters of hand-woven cotton materi
I for underclothing. Thus girls a
q hardly in their teens when they beg
TO make this provision for their ma
riage.
As they generally have no idea wi
: is likely to be their husband when tn,
begin this work, wondered how Il
II socks would fit the unknown foe
$. This, however, was considered a trivi
b difficulty, and was told that the socl
. being made the average size, usual
:, gave satisfaction Then the Servians
= not wear boots and shoes, and there
5. plenty of room for an ill-ftting so
:. in tb6 loose sandals with which tn