Show the oriental and III A recent writer on oriental rugs that there Is bo arbitrary test by which an inexperienced person can tell a genuine rug from a bogus one knots and strands mean nothing except in connection with other important elements shades and spots are imitated washing the rug to discover if it has been painted over with brillh and water color frequently leads only to the discovery of a bad spot in an otherwise fine rug the oriental dyer docs his work according to his own sweet will between the puffs of a cigarette and the gossip of hie friends he dips his material in the dye tub only the expert knowledge of the old rug buyer can be depended on these buyers go to the great fairs on the edge of the desert where once a year the men of tho east gather to haggle together sometimes western buyers push into persia and the caucasus to search out rare weaves in the homes of the weavers but the le always attended with some danger from native hostility it Is said that the annals of commerce contain greater romances than were ever woven around tales of war |