Note 445 — Chapter II · SPINNING AND WEAVING—MARVELLOUS SKILL DISPLAYED IN THESE ARTS.

“At the town of Baroche, in Guzerat, Forbes describes the manufacture as being now in nearly the same state as when Arrian’s Periplus was written (about A. D. 100.). He says—”The cotton trade at Baroche is very considerable, and the manufactures of this valuable plant, from the finest muslin to the coarsest sail-cloth, employ thousands of men, women, and children, in the metropolis and the adjacent villages. The cotton clearers and spinners generally reside in the suburbs, or poorahs, of Baroche, which are very extensive. The weavers’ houses are mostly near the shade of tamarind and mango trees, under which, at sun-rise, they fix their looms, and weave a variety of cotton cloth, with very fine baftas and muslins (See Plate V.). Surat is more famous for its colored chintzes and piece goods. The Baroche muslins are inferior to those of Bengal and Madras, nor do the painted chintzes of Guzerat equal those of the Coromandel coast.”—Forbes’s Oriental Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 222.