a. Fez was formerly one of
the chief seats of the rug industry, which is now limited mostly to
Rabat. Unfortunately, aniline dyes are now largely used, and even the
designs are less artistic than in former years. There is, however, a rug
not known to the trade, and only rarely met with outside its home. It is
the _Tuareg_ rug, and is woven by the Berbers, a tribe occupying the
desert south of Algeria and Tunis, and known as Tuareg or Tawarek by the
Arabs. The Tuaregs are great traders, and control the principal caravan
routes. Their rugs are woven by the women, and seldom if ever leave the
families which weave them. The most beautiful are used as shrouds, and
are buried with their owners.

_Tunis_ sends out a few rugs woven at Kairuan. They are thick, heavy,
but inferior in many ways to rugs of Oriental workmanship.

BOSNIAN, SERVIAN, ROUMANIAN, AND BULGARIAN RUGS

Bosnian rugs in olden times were sometimes very fine. Then came years of
general depression, when the industry of weaving fell into decay.
Finally the Austro-Hungarian administration was established at Bosnia,
and new life was given to the work. Looms were erected by the
Government, and a number of women were sent to Vienna, where they were
taught the art of weaving. Returning to Bosnia, they were able to impart
to others the knowledge they had gained, and thus the work prospered. To
enhance further the value of these rugs, the latest designs in the old
Bosnian rugs were selected, and by the harmonious blending of these with
new designs and colors, modern rugs were made, which show decided
improvement.

_Servian_ rugs are woven throughout all Servia, but the principal seat
of the industry is at Pirot, on the southern boundary of the Balkan
Mountains. The rugs are of wool, and the best are very durable. The dyes
are generally vegetable, the weaving is a home industry, and the designs
are all worked on a black or red ground. The preferment in the modern
rug is for red, but the older rugs had the black ground. The general
design is an extended square, in the centre of which is a panel. The
rest of the field is filled with stripes and geometrical forms in rather
bright and varied coloring.

_Roumanian_ rugs of modern make are quite inferior. They are woven on
ordinary hand looms in the villages and towns among the mountains of
Roumania. They are coarse, and the designs are in stripes, zigzag lines,
or straight-lined figures. Occasionally flower designs hav