ABSTRACT

Last-century, it is said, that from five to six hundred Rafú-gars, or darners, found employment in the different European factories in and around Dacca, but now their number does not exceed a hundred and fifty. They have always been esteemed one of the most respectable classes of Muhammadans, their chief bearing the honorary title of ‘Mihtar Jí’. Formerly, they never intermarried out of their own circle, but now, through poverty, are obliged to be less particular. The following curious custom is observed: They instruct only the sons and grandsons of the male line in the mysteries of their handicraft, declining to teach their daughters’ children; but so long as marriages were confined to their own clique this practice could have had little meaning. In former days an expert Rafú-gar earned from ten to twelve rupees a month; the less expert about eight. Their occupation was to examine the webs of muslin, and extract any threads that were broken, replacing them by new ones. This operation was called ‘Chunná’, to pick, or choose. The Rafú-gar was a confirmed opium smoker, his skill being most striking when under the influence of that drug. The female Rafú-gar is often as dexterous as her husband, but she generally works at embroidery. Formerly the hemmer (Maghzí) was distinct from the darner, but now the Rafú-gar is reduced to hem as well as darn.