from Is. to Is. 6d. per yard in the present states
of the British market. Coarse fabrics are not in
demand, but after a certain fineness is attained, the
colours and patterns are of more consequence than
the texture, cloths of approved patterns, often selling
fifty per cent, higher than those that happen not
to suit the native taste. A small proportion of
very fine chintzes only will now and then find a
market. Furniture chintzes meet a limited market.
The same selection of bright colours and
character of pattern is necessary for them.
The chintzes which I have described are used
by the natives for vests or coats with the men, and
with the women for gowns, (baju and kabaya.) For
the under part of dress, the covering of the loins
and lower parts of the body, ( sarung,) none of
our established manufactures are exactly suitable ;
but the natives purchase our white calicoes and
cotton cambrics, and paint them of their favourite
colours and patterns. This is a branch of the
trade quite new, but likely to be carried to a considerable
extent. Manchester madapolams and
Glasgow cottons, put up in imitation of Irish
shirting, especially the latter, are articles very suitable
to the Java market. They are used chiefly
by the Chinese, whose favourite and national colour
white is, and have of late years entirely superseded
the Indian and Chinese fabrics formerly consumed
by them.
Idie bandana handkerchiefs, manufactured at
Glasgow, have long superseded the genuine ones,
and are now consumed in large quantities both by
the natives and Chinese. Some improvement
might be suggested by which they would be still
more suitable to the taste of the native consumer.
The white spots, for example, might be changed
for green or yellow flowers, and handsome colour-*-
ed borders would particularly suit the fancy of the
wearer.
Cotton velvets are in considerable demand
among the richer natives ; not one of whom that
can afford such a luxury is without a suit of this
material. The favourite colours in this '-fabric
are dark-green, mulberry, and blue, with flowered
patterns.
A few finer cotton fabrics are in demand among
the European part of the population.
Woollens are an article of considerable and increasing
demand among the Indian islanders.
There cannot be a greater error than to imagine
that this description of fabric is unsuitable to the
climate and habits of the people. Woollens are,
perhaps, upon the whole, more suitable to climates
under and near the equator than to those in the
neighbourhood of the tropics. Half the year in
the latter is, indeed, a mild winter, in which woollen
clothing is an object of comfort, but the other
half is a sultry summer in which it is intolerable.