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INDIA

Afghan merchants from the highlands, find their market
here, and carry off huge bales on the backs of their shaggy
camels to bring them profit in the bazaars of Kandahar
and Kabul,
Peshawur is famous for its “ lungis,” the head-dress of
the Pathan frontier man—Sind, Rajputana, the United
Provinces, all boast their specialities. In Bengal there
is still a great trade; but Dakka has fallen from its
high estate, and the market for fine muslin (which takes
its name from the Mesopotamian Mosul) is hardly in
demand nowadays. In the time of Jehangir a muslin was
manufactured of so fine a quality that when laid wet on
‘he grass it disappeared from sight. This was called the
* dew of the morning” (Subhnam), but there is none like
t now.
In the Central Provinces (at Nagpur), in Berar, Bombay,
 Madras (Cocanada, Vizagapatam, and Nellore) are
found centres of the cloth trade. Silk weaving flourishes
chiefly in the Puniab, and for lace one must go to
Ceylon.
Hardly less universal than the Indian weaver is the
indian potter. Outside every village he is to be seen,
where the dead level of the plain rises to a small mound,
and the accumulated débris of decades of rejected pots
forms a point of vantage for his trade, moulding the clay
with hands perfected by the transmission of hereditary
skill, and surrounded with rows and circles of « ghurras,”
“sarais,” and pans. The potter’s trade is as old as civilisation
 is old, and in India it may be studied in its primitive
corms. As for the art applied to pottery, beyond the
traditional lines of form it is comparatively crude. The
Bombay and Jaipur pottery turned out in “art” schools
is generally much admired, as is also the blue and white
patterned glaze of the Multan productions. The latter is
a very ancient trade; the former comparatively new.
But the Indian potter is not easily stirred to attempt
western design in decoration. He cares not for wealth,
for he cannot change his caste or his social position. So
long as his simple wants are provided for he would rather