The loom on which a Cashmere shawl is woven is of the rudest and most primitive description- the warp being supported by two sticks, and the woof entirely worked in by the human hand. This slow laborious process permits a neatness and exactness of finish beyond the power of any machinery to rival; and when we take into account a life-long practice in the art, and- remembering the Hindu "castes," which usually limit a family to the exercise of a single craft- in most instances the family secrets and traditions which have been preserved, we cease to wonder at the perfection of the work. These Asiatic weavers, temperate in their habits and readily contented, receive a wage of from three-halfpence to two pence a day; but if their wants more nearly approximated to those of an European laborer, what would an Indian Cashmere shawl be worth, when we are informed that from thirty to forty men have sometimes been employed from eighteen months to two years in the manufacture of a single shawl!  There is something very kindling to the imagination in the thought of these swarthy weavers, attired perhaps in our Manchester calicoes, laboring patiently for weeks and months to produce a fabric worthy of rank and royalty, without other than most vague or false ideas of the scenes in which their work will be displayed.   

           Indeed there is no surer test by which a lady may know a veritable Cashmere shawl, than by examining the border- but if she have a fine eye for color this faculty will also assist her. The preparation of the dyes which the Hindus use is still a secret, of which they are very chary, removing their operations to a distance whenever they have reason to dread inquisitive lookers on. But the result in their fabrics is perceived in the peculiar richness and clearness of their hues, and at the same time absence of glare; the reds, blues, and greens, reminding one more of the harmonious tints of old stained glass than anything else.

          Receiving the impetus of fashion, the Cashmere shawl have become, within the last dozen years, richer and more elaborate than ever-  their richness and elaboration of pattern necessitating even a firmer and more substantial groundwork than heretofore, but still the method of their manufacture remains unchanged, as might be expected from the conservatism inseparable from semi-barbarism. London is now one of the chief marts for Cashmere shawls. It may not be generally known that London dealers send quantities of shawls to France , America , Russia , and even Turkey , a convincing proof of the enterprise of British merchants. They supply many other foreigners, especially finding a market among them for the gold embroidered shawls, which are frequently worn on state occasions at foreign courts. The duty on Cashmere shawls is now only about five per cent. Twice a year there are public sales, to which dealers are invited by catalogues sent to Paris and other continental cities.

         One of the great merits of a Cashmere seems that it is really never out of date- and when, comparing even the old pine patterns with the large long shawls, the rich borders of which sweep in graceful flowing lines into the very center, we feel that they are still "of one family," and hold together- if the comparison be not too fanciful- rich and poor, in right clannish fashion.  Some of the most modern and most costly Cashmere shawls resemble in pattern that of the long French Cashmere, simply however because the French have copied the Indian design. 

         The gold and silver thread employed for the embroidery of Cashmere shawls is usually prepared in the following manner; and the chief seat of the manufacture is at Boorhampoor, a city of the Deccan . A piece of the purest ore is beaten into a cylindrical form about the size of a thick reed, and then beaten out in length until it will pass through an orifice the eighth of an inch in diameter; it is drawn through still finer perforations until it is reduced to the proportion of a bobbin thread. 

Now a different plan is pursued; the wire already produced is wound upon several reels which work upon pivots, the ends of the thread being passed through still finer holes, and then affixed to a large reel which is set rapidly in motion and still further attenuates the threads. It is afterward flattened on an anvil of highly polished steel, by a practiced and dexterous workman; and by an ingenious process, a silk thread is afterward plated, or sheathed as it were by this minute wire. It is asserted that if a lump of silver be gilt in the first instance before being drawn into wire, it will retain the gilding through all the subsequent hard usage of hammering, winding, and drawing to which it is subjected, coming out to the very last a gilded thread. It is easy to understand that gold and silver thread of this pure description, unlike tinsel finery, it is not liable to tarnish.  

China crape is made entirely of silk, and that Cashmere shawls manufactured of it are generally costly in proportion to the richness of the pattern. The foundation or ground of the Cashmere shawl is chiefly made at Nankin, and then sent to Canton to be embroidered. The pattern is formed by two "needlemen," who work together, the one passing the silk down, and the other from beneath passing it up, while a third workman changes the silk for them when necessary. Thus the apparent marvel of equal neatness on both sides is accounted for, by the explanation of this simple method; but we have quite failed, from examination of the work, to detect the process of fastening on and off; with such mysterious ingenuity is this needful operation performed China crape shawls have been very fashionable of late years, and almost defying vulgar imitation, are little likely to fall into disrepute.

From: Harper's Magazine, December 1850