Travels in India (Tavernier) 69: Concerning Cotton Cloths, and first of the painted fabrics called Chites

69

The chites or painted cotton cloths which are called cabnendar that is to say, made with a brush, are made in the Kingdom of Golconda, and especially in the neighbourhood of Masulipatam ; but the quantity made is so small that when one places in requisition all the workers who make these cotton cloths it is with difficulty that he can obtain as much as three bales.
The chites which are made in the Empire of the Great Mogul are printed, and are of different degrees of beauty, both on account of the printing and the fineness of the cotton cloth. Those made at Lahore are the coarsest of all, and consequently the cheapest. They are sold by corges, a corge consisting of 20 pieces, and costing from 16 to 30 rupees. The chites which are made at Sironj are sold at from 20 to 60 rupees the corge or thereabouts.
All the chites of which I am about to speak are printed cotton cloths, of which bedcovers are made, and also sufras or tablecloths, according to the custom of the country, pillowcases, pocket-handkerchiefs, and especially waistcoats for the use of both men and women, principally in Persia.
The chites of bright colours are made at BURHANPUR. They are made into handkerchiefs, which are at present much used by those who take snuff, and a sort of veil called ornis, which the women throughout Asia use to put on their heads and about their necks.
The baftas, or cotton cloths to be dyed red, blue, or black, are taken uncoloured to AGRA and AHMADABAD, because these two towns are near the places where the Indigo is made, which is used in dyeing, and they cost from 2 rupees the piece up to 30 or 40 rupees, according to the fineness and the gold at both ends, and in some also on the sides. The Indians know how to pass some of these cloths through a certain water which causes them to appear like a waved camlet, and these pieces are the dearest.
These kinds of cotton cloth, which cost from 2 to 12 rupees the piece, are exported to the coast of Melinde, and they constitute the principal trade done by the Governor of Mozambique, who sells them to the Cafres to carry into the country of the Abyssins and the Kingdom of Saba, because these people, not using soap, need only simply rinse out these cloths.
Those which cost 12 rupees and upwards are exported to the Philippines, Borneo, Java, Sumatra, and other islands. The women of these islands have for their sole garment a piece of this cotton cloth, which, without cutting, one end serves as a petticoat, and the remainder is wound round the waist and head.