entre of distribution
for a great variety of cheap and coarsely woven carpets; but poor in
quality as these may be, they should not be confused with the American
machine product also known as a "Smyrna." In the same class come the
Oushaks, Hamadans, etc. There is nothing more to be said for them than to
testify that they will wear better than a Brussels carpet, and give some
distinction to a modest dining-room.

It is a far cry from carpets to saddle-bags, and yet these latter are of
greater importance and interest to the collector. More valuable pieces of
Oriental weaving are to be found among the diminutives than in the grand
_opera_ of textiles.

Beginning at the bottom, we find plenty of the little pairs of bags,
twelve or eighteen inches square. They are donkey bags, carried back of
the saddle, and generally appear in Shirvan make or, most commonly, in
Shiraz weaving. The Shiraz often have considerable beauty and sheen and
dark rich colouring. But these very small pieces have little real utility
or available artistic beauty. They never lie well, and only litter up the
floor. They belittle a well-arranged room as would a frail and useless
gilt chair. They are recommended for pillows, but we Occidental infidels
associate rugs too closely with the foot to find them easy to the head.
They are also advised for use as hassocks. But the hassock long ago
disappeared, with or under the "what-not," or behind "the horse-hair
sofa."

Other bags, used on horse and camel, come in more important sizes, as
large as two feet by six feet or more. Exquisite specimens of Bokharas are
found among these; artistic, antique pieces, woven as fine as needlework.
A number of these seem to have come suddenly on the market in some
mysterious way; and they are of every size within their small limits;
because, as an Oriental has suggested, there are _pony_ camels also.
Another mystery about those camel bags would seem to be that some are
beautifully straight and therefore most to be desired, while others are so
curved as to be impossible of use unless around the foot of a pillar. Here
is a case differing from that of the ordinary crooked rug, because these
bags were originally made straight and true. Overloading and overpacking
have only sagged down the middle. I dare not say that the more the curve,
the greater the age and the more the value; but it may be that curved
Bokhara saddle-bags, passed by, by the Levite, are prizes to be picked up