Note 91 — LECTURE V. (31st October 1881.) THE BROCHS AND THEIR CONTENTS.

Dr. Malcolm Monro Mackenzie, Civil Surgeon, Dharwar, Bombay, states that in the jails in Bombay, where the work of the convicts is chiefly weaving, the implement used for beating in the weft is a hand-comb generally of wood, with iron teeth like that represented above in Fig. 241241. The late Mr. Whytock, carpet manufacturer, when applied to for information as to the nature of the implement used in carpet-weaving, stated that “In the manufacture of the Persian or Axminster carpet, made in one piece and worked in an upright loom, the instrument used for beating down the weft or pile was about 4 inches broad, with iron teeth resembling those of a horse-comb, fastened into a short handle.” He was kind enough to supply a sketch from memory of the instrument as formerly used in the factory at Lasswade. The sketch showed an implement in shape somewhat like the short flat hand-brush used by painters in whitewashing, or a good deal like the Indian loom comb (figured above), only a little broader in proportion to its length. The nature and use of these long-handled combs formed the subject of two papers in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. ix. pp. 118, 548.