Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/370

354 COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION OF high priced. From the quantity of material they contain, however, and the care with which the thread is spun, they are heavy and durable fabrics. The superiority in cheapness of the fabrics of a re- fined and improved manufacture over such rude efforts of art, is always in the direct proportion of the quantity of skill which can be expended upon the smallest quantity of material. While the de- gree of art expended bears but a small proportion to the raw material, that is, when the fabric is coarse and heavy, the cotton fabrics of the islands are nearly as cheap as those of Great Britain. The former become dear in proportion as they become fine, and at last will bear no comparison at all, A picul of clean cotton wool costs in Java about 11 Spanish dollars ; a picul of thread 24 Spanish dol- lars ; a picul of blue thread 35 Spanish dollars ; the same quantity of good ordinary coloured cloth, 50 Spanish dollars. The spinning costs therefore 118 per cent., the dyeing 46, and the weaving 108. In Bengal spinning is performed with so much more savina: of labour, that it costs little more than one half of what it does in Java. In Britain, thread of the fine quality, number 100, is spun at the ex- pence of not more than 30 per cent, on the cost of the raw material, or for 8d. per pound ! The raw material in Britain is,' at least, 125 per cent, more costly than in Java. It is transported over half the globe, — manufactured by a people