The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1939-07-06


the carpet weaving. Ito see the
weaving is to understand the price.
1t is all hand woven. The weaver
sees no design before him to pattern,
but follows directions written cut IN
the Persian character. Supposing
there are six men weaving on one rug,
then two who weave at the outside
edges will be doing the same pattern
in the border But only one of these
has the directions so he reads aloud
as he weaves and the other fellow
follows from the reading. Likewise
those in the center. This accounts
as YOU can we'll see for the many err
rors and discrepancies in the design
of hand made Indian rug. Without
these errors you can be sure that
rug is not an Indian hand-woven rug.
The skill and speed of the weavers
is wonderful to see. We saw one rug
being made which was fully fifteen
feet wide and there were eight men
working on it, and we were told that
the eight men weave only about one
inch per day. The design was beau
tiful but difficult, and they were act
ually working very rapidly, in spite of
the seeming slow progress. In rugs
too. one finds some very modern de-
signs. However, we all preferred the
old Persian designs and thought them
much more lovely than the most mod
ern ones.
The shop keepers are keen on busi-
ness and sometimes almost poster the
| life out of one to convince one that
one is in need of their goods and that
their shop can not be equalled any
where. They also try to prove to
you that their designs are original
and that they will never be duplicated.
They come as hawkers to your door
and display their goods before you.
They come in row boats or shikaras
as they are called. Then they also
insist that you come to their shop and
to make sure that you will do so, they
offer to give you a free trip there in
their own shikara, and make an ap-
pointment for certain day. When
the day comes they are there bright
and early and off you go.
The entrance to their shops are
unique. They take you through a
back alley, if one can speak of a
water way as an alley, and then after
landing, you walk usually long dis
tance through rear alleys, winding in
and out between tall buildings and
! fenced enclosures. sort of back
yard. These alleys are narrow and
filthy dirty, so that one almost feels
defiled after having walked through.
Arriving at the particular shop which
we are to visit, we go up rickety
winding stair case, sometimes severa
stories, and behold. most wonder
full display of the beautiful things o.
the Orient lies before you. The ap
pearance of the shops inside is fol
the most part clean and neat. Ii
some of them one could almost i'm
agine ones self in a European shop
Some of the shopkeepers in theil
great desire to sell and to out-dC
some other shopkeeper, becomes ex
tremely hospitable and serve tea thei
and there. One even went so far al
to give us a special invitation to hi
home and served a Persian lunch
To do this he had to engage a specia
Mohammedan cook. He had promis
ed to serve us twenty-five courses
but he stopped somewhere around th'
eighteenth. A course however, means
just a very little of several differen
dishes. The food seemed to be servet
with at least some cleanliness ant
care, and some of it was most tasty
so we really enjoyed the occasion.
Though the native ruling Prince o
Kashmir is Hindu and there ar,
some Hindus, the majority of the pop
ulation is Mohammedan. For tn,
most part they are healthy, happ.
looking people, and the women arr
noted for their beauty. Many of then
are very fair and their features very
beautiful. They love to sing and a:
they go about on the lake with theil
shikaras, one often hears some reall!
attractive tunes. On one occasion
during our stay there the Mohamma
dams had special festival which the!
attended in great crowds. Seeing th'
boats or shikaras passing our house
boat both day and night reminded on'
of city traffic at home. One day wa!
Especially set aside for the women ant
they had the privilege that day o.
seeing few hairs from the beard o
Mohammed, but | suspect that it wa
mostly the outing that gave them tn,
thrill.
, At Kashmir, one misses social con
facts and church fellowship with 9th
Ter missionaries for there are not near
, sy so many as we always find in Land
| our However, we did have some mic
/ services in small group gathered to
| gether on beautiful small island. |
t seemed strange to go to services b,
3 boat. 1t was just twenty minute