SCARF MAKERS.
(188)
THIS occupation is not a caste, but a trade, and one of comparatively recent origin. It is followed chiefly by Mahomedans, though Hindoos occasionally practise it, and was originally introduced into Dehli and Lahore, where it is chiefly followed, by Cashmere mechanics, who have emigrated from their own country, Delhi scarves are famous, and there are few to whom they are not known. They are of Cashmere cloth, or of net, embroidered with silks of various colours, and in all imaginable designs. Some, as those of black cloth or net, embroidered in white or gold coloured floss silk, are perhaps the most chaste and beautiful; while there are others, to suit all tastes, of coloured flowers and designs, which are hardly less remarkable. The process of embroidery is very simple, only requiring patience and skilful manipulation. The outline is traced carefully on the material to be embroidered, which is stretched upon a frame supported by trestles, as seen in the Photograph. The worker is seated on the ground beside it, and fills in the pattern with floss silk by means of wooden needles, like those used in the embroidery of Cashmere shawls. A very chaste effect is produced by using a shade of silk or braid of a somewhat darker tint than the ground; and our readers will most likely be familiar with jackets, robes, waistcoats, and shawls, in which this method has been employed with great taste and effect. There is a considerable variety of this species of manufacture at present in the India Museum, and some of the specimens are strikingly elegant and beautiful. It is not a description of manufacture which is used in any great degree by the native population, even of the North-West Provinces, though an occasional embroidered vest or tunic may be seen in wear by the upper classes; and in the central and southern portions of the peninsula it is quite unknown.
As the scarf makers belong to no particular caste, sect, or tribe, they present no particular features for remark.
