thullghaut

Cotton Thull [?] Ghaut G.I.P.Ry.

from SMU Libraries Digital Collections

• Paul Castro said:

  Could the title be 'Cotton Thull'? I'm doing some research on Portuguese Goa and have found many mentions of a material called 'tanã', which appears to a sort of cheap cotton made near Bombay.

• SMU Libraries Digital Collections said:

  Paul Castro Hi there and thank you for your interest! I believe I might be able to clarify this for you. Thull Ghat is an archaic spelling of Thal Ghat, more modernly known as Kasara Ghat - a mountain incline/slope in the Western Ghats, on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. What the photograph depicts is a cotton storage facility, located at this Ghat. As for 'tanã', I'm not completely certain, but I believe the word might stem from an area near Mumbai which was known for its cotton growing, in the 1870s. Thane is a district in present-day Mumbai, which was once known (and spelled) as both Thana and Tanna. In the book "In Quest of Coolies" by James L. A. Hope, printed in 1872 - there is a mention of how cotton-growing in Tanna was "showing signs of being a great business in the future". Link: books.google.com/books?id=F9gvAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA92 I hope you find this information useful!

• Paul Castro said:

  That's a real help. Thanks a lot for taking the time to get back to me.