Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-08-12
Geographic News
WHAT MOTHER USED TO WEAR
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society

Clothing manufacturers discuss
ing the possibility Of the use OF
cassemeres for making boys cloth
ing for the spring of 1923, and the
girl of today, draping about her slim
shoulders deep fringed scarfs after
the fashion of her great grandmoth-
er of a hundred years ago. are both
Kashmir, one Of the 700 native
states of India, had developed an
industry in the production Of fine
wooden fabrics and Kashmir shawls'
says a bulletin Of the National Geo
graphic Society issued from its
Washington. ID. c.. headquarters.
when the Aryan youth of that
land of beauty sang beside the
Shalimar gardens in Srinagar Of the
pale hands he loved, the object Of
his affections probably had draped
about her W youthful shoulders
one Of those products of the weav-
ers' art which put kashmir on the
map, or at least made it synony-
mou in our minds with wooden
fabrics of the softest and finest tex
ture.
From Land of "Lalla RoOkh"
always kashmir has been famed
for its beauty since Sir Thomas
Moore wrote the lifting lines OF his
sugar-coated romance, Lalla Rookh'
and probably long before. Srinagar,
its capital, stretches out picturesque
ly in the fertile vale of Kashmir
along both sides Of the river Jhelum,
the whole Of the country itself lying
in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Back in the reign OF Napoleon
Bonaparte. when that temporarily
dAUAfA@ HyrcIA r0~1.~~ fDr
rare gifts to please the fancy of his
charming and gracious wife. he
bought one of the most beautiful of
the shawls for her, and from that
time on the Kashmir shawls a a
long and brilliant course at the
court of tickle fashion, and Srinagar
developed an industry which kept
the shuttle flying through 10000
looms in the state.
Brought Here by Whalers
About the same time, American
whalers and sailing vessels that
were blowing the Pacific, exploring,
naming and remaining islands in the
South Seas. made their way into the
ports of India In order that the
women waiting at home for the well
come sign of a sail might add to
their collections Of treasure one of
those priced light wraps which have
become renowned for the glowing
harmony, depth and enduring quail
tiles of it's brilliant colors.
"One Of the most beautiful OF. the
elaborate designs was the cone pat
tern; another general fnvorite being
the ring shawl, which, though not
at all transparent, is SO soft that it
a easily be drawn through a finger
ring. Fortunate indeed was the
woman who happened to possess one
laden with the delicate embroidery
which made them so handsome and
SO costly!
War Sealed Their Doom
The production of shawls in
kashmir, however, has fallen off
within the last twenty-five or thirty
years and Is almost nonresident to-
day. The Franco-Prussian war seal
ed their doom, and the famine in
India during 1870 played havoc
among the 1t is said that
If it were not for the fact that ac-
cording to the treaty between the
State Of Kashmir and the British
government six pairs of shawls of
fine quality must be paid yearly,
probably even the knowledge of the
- AtoSAL "Odio VIC OuI %IIlOIIS llC
natives, though it has been practiced
since the days of the Emperor
Baber, the first of the Great Moguls,
who ruled India in the early part
Of the sixteenth century. In those
days and for centuries afterward the
beautiful shawl woven and embroid-
cred by the Kashmiri maiden was
the chief object in the dowry she
brought her husband.
No. Made Of Sleeps Wool
"The queer part of the story Is
that these exotic things are not
made of wool of sheep, nor do the
animals live in Kashmir. In u
everyday parlance the word CASH
mere is incorrectly applied to ma
terial made from the finest grade of
the wool of merino sheep raised in
Spain, but the real product is made
from the soft, very fine and short
underwood OF the shawl-goat which
lives in the mountainous regions of
lib There r several varieties
Of this so-called wool, but on the
finest OF it the Maharaja of Kashmir
has a monopoly.
"In Amritsar and other places in
the Punjab, a fine soft Persian
sleeps wool Is used. The Tibetan
goat which produces the most high
ly priced product is an aristocrat OF
his kind, with a delicate head. long
thin ears, and delicate skin. Re-
gardless Of what color he may be,
the underwood is of q uniform grey
ish white tint and almost Is soft
and silky as down. The natives col
lect it after it has fallen off natural
ly in the spring time, OF remove 1t
and carefully separate it from the
hair"