Travels in India (Tavernier) 11.1

11.1

From Telor to San-kaira (Singatoria ?) 3 coss. ,, San-kaira to Seronge (Sironj) . 12 ,, Sironj is a large town, of which the majority of the inhabitants are Banian merchants and artisans, who have dwelt there from father to son, which is the reason why it contains some houses of stone and brick. There is a large trade there in all kinds of coloured calicoes, which they call chites, with which all the common people of Persia and Turkey are clad, and which are used in several other countries for bedcovers and tablecloths. They make similar calicoes in other places besides Sironj, but the colours are not so lively, and they disappear when washed several times. It is different with those of Sironj; the more they are washed the more beautiful they become. A river passes here, of which the water possesses the property of giving this vivacity to the colours; and during the rainy season, which lasts four months, the workers print their calicoes according as the foreign merchants have given them patterns, because, as soon as the rains have ceased, the water of the river is more disturbed, and the sooner the calicoes are washed the better the colours hold, and become more lively.