Genghis, of the Caucasian class, being made by a tribe of Turkomans in the Caucasus and resembling closely the Turkoman productions, are classified as such by several prominent writers.
[Illustration: SARUK RUG Size 6' 4" × 4' 1" FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE AUTHOR
Knot: Senna. Fourteen to the inch horizontally and seventeen to the inch vertically, making two hundred and thirty-eight to the square inch.
The design is characteristic but the colors are unusual for a Saruk. There is a central pole medallion within another medallion. The predominating color of the former is an old rose with figures in light and dark blue, white and yellow, especially the latter. The outside medallion has an old ivory background and is strewn with beautiful undulating vines covered with flowers of various colors, those at one end being principally in old rose while at the other end a rich red seems to predominate. Each corner of the field outside of the medallion has a rich blue background with scroll figures and large flowers, differing considerably in color at the two ends. There are four border strips, the outside one being of plain ivory. The main border consists of alternate white and old rose floral forms connected by a meandering line upon a dark blue background and on both sides of this main border stripe is the reciprocal trefoil in red, blue and white.
THE PERSIAN CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION
From the earliest time to the present the Persian has excelled all others in the designing of flowers and in color decoration, therefore the Persian textiles have always shown complex floral designs and harmonious arrangement of colors. Unlike the Turkish fabrics, they almost invariably have a full straight fringe at each end which is composed of loose warp threads.
In Persia both the Senna and the Ghiordes knots are used, and the latter has been adopted in some localities where the former alone was once in vogue.
The weavers of Persia are usually composed of women and children of both sexes. The latter, however, do not take up the work at nearly so early an age as they do in Asia Minor. In Persia they seldom begin earlier than ten years of age, while in Asia Minor thousands of little children from four to six years of age may be seen working at the loom. The usual pay in Persia is fifteen tomans ($0.91) a year for the first two years of their apprenticeship. This amounts to about $13.65 of our money. After the expiration of two years they are paid at the rate of one toman for every 30,000 stitches.