تقرير عن رحلة في كشمير كتبه ديفيد لوكهارت روبرتسون لوريمر ورسائل من إميلي أوفرند لوريمر إلى والديها تم إرسالها من البحرين وكرمان [و‎‎٤‎٠‎٣] (١٢٩١/٨٢٥)

T '/, , ,
/bmf lX littl s prs.ying-c/;rp')ts. It is m turfcliy vn-j tryt-
ing oO L i< < W'ic.v.iVB a.t work on it, c nu ?, pruo.’ mt omployor who
a&.b on hand an ordnr for anything ixc-iptionally i inn will al-
Wc -<7^ 0 (! cavuful to run siniultf’nnously with it another carp'>t
ol i>h '■ > ooarsur typ} anu put thu w javors on to th^m on alt’^r—
nato days. Now, to Inav » thn dosigning room and pass to
th» actual woi’k-rooms. Ttm apparatus Minploy»a is of course
of the most primitive. There are first of all two huge
wooden beams/running horizontally, round which are stretched
the strong cotton threads which running vertically rorm the
warp 01 the carpet. It is no small business to prepare the
Wr i p *oi a large carpet j the threads must be chosen, spaced
carefully —your 40, 80 or 150 to the unit, stretched taut
and so adjusted that as the work progresses the lowjr beam
can be rotated and the finished carpet rolled to bring the
woi^ing line within th reach of the weavers. Mf' 3randLy
told us it often took a weeks work to prepare one such
frame. There is no metal work and no machinery and it is
riac.zing uO see these b ams with their wood n levers and cranks
wo iking clumsily perhaps but as ant* effectively
as any modern invention and probably unchanged since the days
oi Alexander ^bc. Darius. One huge beam, about 20 yards long
and 12 inches diameter, on which two carpets were being
woven had cost no less than £100. When your warp is duly
adjusted, you next insert two smaller, lighter horizontal beams
which divide the threads in such a way that ha.il or them form
as xt were a back warp and half a front one. Then the weavers
get to work. On a carpet about 4 yards wide there may be
5 or 6 men working, or more,if speed is urgent. They squat
ornth ) ground ana work upwards. Bach takes his woollen thread
passes it round two threads of the warp catching one pack one
and one front one, ties a secure knot and outs off his woil
with a sharp knife about an inch or half an inch from the
knot. Good weaving depends not only on speed but on the
tightness aid security of the knot, the infallible catching of
dols threads and finally th » trimming. if the weaving is
slovenly the whole texture of the carpet Is spoiled, if the
trimming is careless a great deal of wool is wasted. When
one complete horizontal row of stitches has been made, the
weavers beat them down with a curious sort of strong metal
comb to that they may lie even and tight against the row below
riid t.u«-,t you may get your 40 or 80 or 150 to your vertical
ueU. Here again is need for skill and practice, lor
careless weavers or a set who perhaps do not all work equally
lighly may produce wavy horizontal lines and a carpet which