Nearly 200 years ago, Dhaka muslin was the most valuable fabric on the planet. Then it was lost altogether. How did this happen? And can we bring it back?

大約200年前，達卡平紋細布是世界上最珍貴的布料。后來徹底消失了，為什么會這樣？我們能夠復原這種布料嗎？

In late 18th-Century Europe, a new fashion led to an international scandal. In fact, an entire social class was accused of appearing in public naked.

在18世紀末的歐洲，一種新服飾引發(fā)了國際丑聞。事實上，整個社會階層被指責裸體在公眾場合露面。

The culprit was Dhaka muslin, a precious fabric imported from the city of the same name in what is now Bangladesh, then in Bengal. It was not like the muslin of today. Made via an elaborate, 16-step process with a rare cotton that only grew along the banks of the holy Meghna river, the cloth was considered one of the great treasures of the age. It had a truly global patronage, stretching back thousands of years – deemed worthy of clothing statues of goddesses in ancient Greece, countless emperors from distant lands, and generations of local Mughal royalty.

罪魁禍首是達卡平紋細布，這種珍貴的布料進口自同名城市孟加拉，即當今的孟加拉國。它使用一種稀有棉花，通過16道工序精制而成，這種棉花只生長在神圣的梅格納河兩岸。當時人們將這種布料視為瑰寶之一，風靡全球數(shù)千年——人們認為這種布料配得上古希臘的女神像、遙遠國度不計其數(shù)的帝王、本土莫臥兒王朝的皇室成員享用。

There were many different types, but the finest were honoured with evocative names conjured up by imperial poets, such as "baft-hawa", literally "woven air". These high-end muslins were said to be as light and soft as the wind. According to one traveller, they were so fluid you could pull a bolt – a length of 300ft, or 91m – through the centre of a ring. Another wrote that you could fit a piece of 60ft, or 18m, into a pocket snuff box.

這種布料分為許多種，但最上乘的布料被帝國詩人賦予動聽的名字，例如：“baft-hawa”，字面意思是“空氣織物”，據(jù)說這種高檔布料像風一樣輕薄柔軟。一名旅行者這樣描述：它們是如此絲滑，以至于可以拉拽一匹布——長300英尺或91米——穿過一枚戒指。另一名旅行者寫道：你可以將一段長60英尺或18米的布裝入一個小巧的鼻煙壺內(nèi)。

Dhaka muslin was also more than a little transparent.

達卡平紋細布不只是有些透明。

While traditionally, these premium fabrics were used to make saris and jamas – tunic-like garments worn by men – in the UK they transformed the style of the aristocracy, extinguishing the highly structured dresses of the Georgian era. Five-foot horizontal waistlines that could barely fit through doorways were out, and delicate, straight-up-and-down "chemise gowns" were in. Not only were these endowed with a racy gauzy quality, they were in the style of what was previously considered underwear.

傳統(tǒng)上，這些高檔布料用于制造紗麗和類似男士短袍的衣服。但在英國，這些布料改變了貴族的穿衣風格，淘汰了喬治王時代非常有型的衣服。勉強穿過房門的五英尺寬腰身過時了，取而代之的是優(yōu)雅、直上直下的“無腰身寬松長袍”。這種衣服不僅有輕薄透明、極具挑逗的特點，而且有曾經(jīng)被認為是內(nèi)衣的風格。

In one popular satirical print by Isaac Cruikshank, a clique of women appear together in long, brightly colored muslin dresses, though which you can clearly see their bottoms, nipples and pubic hair. Underneath reads the descxtion, "Parisian Ladies in their Winter Dress for 1800".

在艾薩克·克魯克香克繪制的一幅受人喜愛的諷刺漫畫中，一群女性身穿顏色鮮艷的平紋細布長連衣裙集體亮相，但她們的臀部、乳頭、陰毛清晰可見。圖片下面配有這樣的描述：“1800年身穿冬裝的巴黎女性”。

Meanwhile in an equally misogynistic comedic excerpt from an English women's monthly magazine, a tailor helps a female client to achieve the latest fashion. "Madame, ’tis done in a moment," he assures her, then instructs her to remove her petticoat, then her pockets, then her corset and finally her sleeves… "‘Tis an easy matter, you see," he explains. "To be dressed in the fashion, you have only to undress."

在一本英文女性月刊中，有一個同樣厭惡女性的喜劇段子，一位裁縫幫助女性顧客設計最新款式。他向她保證：“女士，馬上就好”，然后指示她脫掉襯裙、衣袋、胸衣、最后是衣袖…… “你看，這很簡單”，他解釋道。“要想穿的時尚，你就得脫光衣服”。

Still, Dhaka muslin was a hit – with those who could afford it. It was the most expensive fabric of the era, with a retinue of dedicated fans that included the French queen Marie Antoinette, the French empress Joséphine Bonaparte and Jane Austen. But as quickly as this wonder-cloth struck Enlightenment Europe, it vanished.

然而，達卡平紋細布大受歡迎——對于那些買得起的人。它是那個時代最昂貴的布料，忠實的粉絲包括法國皇后瑪麗·安托尼特、法國女王約瑟芬·波拿巴、簡·奧斯汀。但在啟蒙運動時期的歐洲，這種神奇布料流行得快，消失得也快。

By the early 20th Century, Dhaka muslin had disappeared from every corner of the globe, with the only surviving examples stashed safely in valuable private collections and museums. The convoluted technique for making it was forgotten, and the only type of cotton that could be used, Gossypium arboreum var. neglecta – locally known as Phuti karpas – abruptly went extinct. How did this happen? And could it be reversed?

20世紀初，達卡平紋細布在世界各地消失了，唯一現(xiàn)存的樣品被完好保存在珍貴的私人收藏和博物館中。這種布料的復雜工藝已經(jīng)失傳，唯一使用的棉花是樹棉的一個變種——當?shù)胤Q為普提卡帕斯——突然絕種了。為什么會這樣？這種布料能被復原嗎？

A fickle fiber

容易變形的纖維

Dhaka muslin began with plants grown along the banks of the Meghna river, one of three which form the immense Ganges Delta – the largest in the world. Every spring, their maple-like leaves pushed up through the grey, silty soil, and made their journey towards straggly adulthood. Once fully grown, they produced a single daffodil-yellow flower twice a year, which gave way to a snowy floret of cotton fibers.

達卡平紋細布源自梅格納河岸生長的植物，它與另外兩條河流構成了巨大的恒河三角洲——世界最大的三角洲。每年春季，形似楓葉的樹葉從灰色的粉質(zhì)土里破土而出，開始蔓生的成熟之旅。當它成熟時，每年兩次開出一朵淡黃色的花，凋謝后開出雪白的棉纖維小花。
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These were no ordinary fibres. Unlike the long, slender strands produced by its Central American cousin Gossypium hirsutum, which makes up 90% of the world’s cotton today, Phuti karpas produced threads that are stumpy and easily frayed. This might sound like a flaw, but it depends what you’re planning to do with them.

它們不是一般的棉纖維。不像中美洲的近親陸地棉結(jié)出細而長的纖維（占當今世界棉花產(chǎn)量的90%），普提卡帕斯結(jié)出短而粗、且易受磨損的纖維。聽起來像是缺點，但這取決于你想用它做什么。

Indeed, the short fibers of the vanished shrub were useless for making cheap cotton cloth using industrial machinery. They were fickle to work with, and they’d snap easily if you tried to twist them into yarn this way. Instead, the local people tamed the rogue threads with a series of ingenious techniques developed over millennia.

其實，消失的那種灌木結(jié)出的短纖維不適合用工業(yè)設備織造便宜的棉布。它們?nèi)菀鬃冃?，捻成的棉紗容易斷裂。然而，當?shù)厝诉\用幾千年來發(fā)明的一系列獨創(chuàng)工藝駕馭了這種劣種纖維。

The full process involved 16 steps, each of which was so specialist, it was carried out by a different village around Dhaka, which was then part of Bengal – some in what is now Bangladesh, some in what is now the Indian state of West Bengal. It was a true community effort, involving the young and old, men and women.

整個工藝包含16道工序，每道工序十分專業(yè)，由達卡附近的另一座村莊來完成，地點位于當時的孟加拉——該國一部分位于當今的孟加拉國，另一部分位于當今印度的西孟加拉州。這是真正的社區(qū)工作，男女老少齊上陣。

First, the balls of cotton were cleaned with the tiny, spine-like teeth on the jawbone of the boal catfish, a cannibalistic native of lakes and rivers in the region. Next came the spinning. The short cotton fibres required high levels of humidity to stretch them, so this stage was performed on boats, by skilled groups of young women in the early morning and late afternoon – the most humid times of day. Older people generally couldn’t spin the yarn, because they simply couldn’t see the threads.

首先，他們用叉尾鲇魚顎骨上尖刺一般的牙齒清洗棉花球，這是當?shù)睾恿骱粗械囊环N食人魚。接下來是紡紗，短的棉纖維需要很高的濕度才能拉伸，所以這道工序由一群技術嫻熟的年輕婦女在船上完成，時間是一天當中濕度最高的清晨和傍晚。老年人一般不紡紗，只因為看不清紗線。

"You'd get tiny, tiny little joins between the cotton fibres, where they were lixed together," says Sonia Ashmore, a design historian who authored a book about muslin in 2012. "It lent the surface a kind of roughness, which gives a very nice feel."

“棉纖維之間有細微的接線頭，將棉纖維連接在一起”，設計歷史學家索尼婭·阿什莫爾說道，她曾在2012年寫過一本關于平紋細布的書?！斑@使棉纖維表面增添了幾分粗糙，觸感很棒”。

Finally, there was the weaving. This part could take months to complete, as classic jamdani designs – mostly geometric shapes depicting flowers – were integrated directly into the cloth, using the same technique that was used to create the famous royal tapestries from medi Europe. The result was a minutely detailed artwork rendered in thousands of silvery, silky strands.

最后是織造。這道工序需要幾個月來完成，典雅的堅達尼設計——多是描繪花朵的幾何圖形——直接與布料相結(jié)合，采用中世紀歐洲著名的皇家掛毯的相同工藝。最終的成品是一件細致入微的藝術品，由數(shù)千股銀色的絲線織造而成。

An Asian wonder

亞洲的奇跡

The region’s Western customers found it hard to believe that Dhaka muslin could possibly have been made by human hands – there were rumours that it was woven by mermaids, fairies and even ghosts. Some said that it was done underwater. "The lightness of it, the softness of it – it was like nothing we have today," says Ruby Ghaznavi, vice president of the Bangladesh National Craft Council.

令該地區(qū)的西方客戶難以置信的是，達卡平紋細布竟然是人類手工編織的——謠傳這種布料是由美人魚、仙女、甚至幽靈織造的。還有人說是在海底織造的?！安剂系墓鉂珊腿彳浂取斀袼坪鯖]有任何布料能與之媲美”，孟加拉國民族工藝委員會副主席魯比·加茲納維說道。

The same weaving process continues in the region to this day, using lower-quality muslin from ordinary cotton threads instead of Phuti karpas. In 2013, the traditional art of jamdani weaving was protected by Unesco as a form of intangible cultural heritage.

這種織造工藝在該地區(qū)一直傳承到今天，人們使用的劣質(zhì)平紋細布是由一般的棉纖維制成，而不是普提卡帕斯。2013年，傳統(tǒng)的堅達尼紡織藝術被聯(lián)合國教科文組織列為受保護的非物質(zhì)文化遺產(chǎn)。

But the real feat was the thread counts that could be achieved.

但是，真正的壯舉是紗線的密度。

Higher thread counts are seen as desirable because they make materials softer, and tend to wear better over time – the more strands there are to begin with, the more there will remain to hold the fabric together when some begin to fray.

較高的紗線密度是可取的，因為這使面料變得更加柔軟和經(jīng)久耐用——最初使用的紗線越多，當部分紗線開始磨損時，使布料連為一體的剩余紗線就越多。

Saiful Islam, who runs a photo agency and leads a project to resurrect the fabric, says most versions made today have thread counts between 40 and 80 – meaning they contain roughly that number of criss-crossing horizontal and vertical threads per square inch of fabric. Dhaka muslin, on the other hand, had thread counts in the range of 800-1200 – an order of magnitude above any other cotton fabric that exists today.

賽義夫·伊斯拉姆經(jīng)營著一家圖片社，并負責一個旨在復原這種布料的項目，他說當今多數(shù)布料的紗線密度是40-80——意為每平方英寸布料大約包含的縱橫交錯的紗線數(shù)量。但是，達卡平紋細布的紗線密度是800-1200——這個數(shù)量級高于現(xiàn)存的所有棉織物。

Though Dhaka muslin vanished more than a century ago, there are still intact saris, tunics, scarves and dresses in museums today. Occasionally one will resurface at a high-end auction house such as Christie’s and Bonhams, and sell for thousands of pounds.

雖然達卡平紋細布已消失了一個多世紀，但當今博物館里仍有保存完好的紗麗、束腰外衣、圍巾、連衣裙。偶爾會有一件在高端拍賣行重見天日，例如佳士得、寶龍，售價數(shù)千英鎊。

A colonial shambles

殖民地亂象

"The trade was built up and destroyed by the British East India Company," says Ashmore.

“英國東印度公司建立而又毀滅了貿(mào)易”，阿什莫爾說道。

Long before Dhaka muslin was draped over aristocratic women in Europe, it was sold across the globe. It was popular with the Ancient Greeks and Romans, and muslin from "India" is mentioned in the book The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, authored by an anonymous Egyptian merchant around 2,000 years ago.
The Roman author Petronius may have been the first person on record to raise an eyebrow over its transparency, writing: "Thy bride might as well clothe herself with a garment of the wind as stand forth publicly naked under her clouds of muslin." Over the coming centuries, the fabric is praised in the works of the renowned 14th-Century Berber-Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta and the prolific 15th-Century Chinese voyager Ma Huan, as well as many others.

早在歐洲貴族女性身穿達卡平紋細布之前，這種布料就已銷往世界各地。它深受古希臘和羅馬人的喜愛，在大約兩千年前，一位不知名的埃及商人寫過一本書叫《厄立特里亞海航行記》，其中提到了產(chǎn)自“印度”的平紋細布。古羅馬作家佩特羅尼烏斯可能是有史以來第一個對這種透明布料感到不滿的人，他寫道：“你的新娘相當于穿了一件輕薄如風的衣服，在多層薄紗的遮蔽下裸體露面”。在后來的幾個世紀，這種布料在許多作品中受到稱贊，例如：14世紀著名的柏柏爾-摩洛哥探險家伊本·巴圖塔、15世紀創(chuàng)作豐富的中國航海家馬歡等等。

But the Mughal era was arguably the fabric’s heyday. The South Asian empire was founded in 1526 by a warrior chieftain from what is now Uzbekistan, and by the 18th Century it ruled across the entire Indian subcontinent. During this period, muslin was traded extensively with merchants from Persia (modern-day Iran), Iraq, Turkey and the Middle East.

但是，莫臥兒帝國是這種布料的鼎盛時期。1526年，地處當今烏茲別克斯坦的一位武士首領建立了這個南亞帝國。到了18世紀，該帝國統(tǒng)治著整個印度次大陸。在這一時期，平紋細布被商人大量買賣，他們來自波斯（當今伊朗）、伊拉克、土耳其、中東地區(qū)。

The cloth was thoroughly endorsed by Mughal emperors and their wives, who were rarely painted wearing anything else. They went so far as to bring the best weavers under their patronage, employing them directly and banning them from selling the very finest cloth to others. According to popular legend, its transparency led to yet more trouble when the emperor Aurangzeb scolded his daughter for appearing in public naked, when she was, in fact, ensconced in seven layers of it.

這種布料受到莫臥兒皇帝及其妻子的大力支持，他們在繪畫作品中很少穿著其他布料。他們不遠萬里請來和資助最好的織布工，直接雇傭他們，禁止他們把最好的布料賣給別人。民間傳說這種透明的布料引起了更多麻煩，奧朗則布皇帝斥責女兒裸體公開露面，其實她身穿的平紋細布有七層。

It was all going so well – then the British turned up. By 1793, the British East India Company had conquered the Mughal empire, and less than a century later the region was under the control of the British Raj.

一切都很順利——然后英國人來了。1793年，英國東印度公司征服了莫臥兒帝國，不到一個世紀，英國就統(tǒng)治了這片地區(qū)。

Dhaka muslin was first showcased in the UK at The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in 1851. This spectacular event was the brainchild of Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert, intended to showcase the wonders of the British Empire to their subjects. Some 100,000 obxts from the farthest corners of the globe were gathered together in a glittering glass hall, Crystal Palace, which was 1,851ft (564m) long and 128ft (39m) high.

1851年，英國舉辦的萬國工業(yè)博覽會首次展示了達卡平紋細布。這一盛況是維多利亞女王的丈夫艾伯特親王的創(chuàng)意，旨在向臣民展示大英帝國的奇跡。天南海北近十萬件物品被共同展示在晶瑩剔透的玻璃大廳“水晶宮”里，長1851英尺（564米），高128英尺（39米）。
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At the time, a yard of Dhaka muslin fetched prices ranging from ￡50-400, according to Islam – equivalent to roughly ￡7,000-56,000 today. Even the best silk was up to 26 times less expensive.

當時，每碼達卡平紋細布售價50-400英鎊，根據(jù)賽義夫·伊斯拉姆的說法——約合當今7000-56000英鎊，比當時最上乘的布料還要貴26倍。

But while Victorian Londoners were fawning over the fabric, those who produced it were being pushed into debt and financial ruin. As the book Goods from the East, 1600–1800 explains, the East India Company first started meddling with the delicate process of manufacturing Dhaka muslin in the late 18th Century.

但是，雖然維多利亞時代的倫敦人對這種布料贊賞有加，但布料生產(chǎn)者卻被迫負債和破產(chǎn)。正如《來自東方的商品》這本書所描述的，18世紀末，英國東印度公司開始干預達卡平紋細布精湛的生產(chǎn)工藝。

First the company replaced the region’s usual customers with those from the British Empire. "They really put a stranglehold on its production and came to control the whole trade," says Ashmore. Then they came down hard on the industry, pressurising the weavers to produce higher volumes of the fabric at lower prices.

首先，該公司以大英帝國的客戶代替該地區(qū)的老客戶?！八麄兺耆珘艛嗌a(chǎn)，控制整個貿(mào)易”，阿什莫爾說道。隨后他們對行業(yè)變得苛刻，逼迫織布工低價生產(chǎn)更多的布料。

"You needed such a special skill to convert it [Phuti karpas] into cloth," says Islam. "It's a very arduous, expensive process – and at the end of the day, after all that you'd only get about eight grammes of fine muslin for one kilogramme of cotton."

“你需要特殊技能才能將它（普提卡帕斯）轉(zhuǎn)化為布料”，伊斯拉姆說道?！斑@是一種既艱難又昂貴的織造工藝——最終每千克棉花只能織出大約8克平紋細布”。

As weavers struggled to keep up with these demands, they fell into debt, explains Ashmore. They were paid upfront for the cloth, which could take up to a year to make. But if the fabric was not considered to be up to the required standard, they would have to pay it all back. "They could never really keep up with these debt repayments," she says.

隨著織布工吃力地滿足需求，他們負債累累，阿什莫爾說道。他們收取預付費來生產(chǎn)布料，生產(chǎn)周期可能需要一年。但如果布料被認為沒達到規(guī)定的標準，他們必須全款賠償?！八麄兏緹o力償還這些債務”，她說道。

The final blow came from competition. Colonial enterprises such as the East India Company had been engaged in documenting the industries they relied on for years, and muslin was no exception. Every step of the process of making the fabric was recorded in meticulous detail.

最后一次打擊來自競爭。多年來，東印度公司這樣的殖民企業(yè)一直詳細記載它們依賴的各個行業(yè)，平紋細布也不例外。他們記錄了織造這種布料的每一道工序的細節(jié)。

As the European thirst for luxury fabrics increased, there was an incentive to make cheaper versions closer to home. In the county of Lancashire in northwest England, the textile baron Samuel Oldknow combined the British Empire’s insider knowledge with state-of-the-art technology, the spinning wheel, to supply Londoners with vast quantities. By 1784, he had 1,000 weavers working for him.

隨著歐洲對奢華布料的需求增加，推動他們在接近本土的地方織造更便宜的布料。在英格蘭西北部的蘭開夏郡，紡織大亨塞繆爾·歐德諾將大英帝國的內(nèi)部知識與技術先進的紡車相結(jié)合，為倫敦人供應大量的布匹。1784年，他雇傭了1000名織布工為他效勞。

Though the British-made muslin didn’t come close to Dhaka’s original – it was made with ordinary cotton, and woven at significantly lower thread counts – the combination of decades of mistreatment and a sudden decline in the need for imported textiles killed it off for good.

但是，英國織造的平紋細布與達卡原版布相差甚遠——使用普通棉花織造，紗線密度嚴重下降——幾十年的苛刻行為和進口紡織品需求的突然下降使這種布料徹底消失了。

As war, poverty, and earthquakes struck the region, some weavers switched to making lower-quality fabrics, while others became full-time farmers instead. In the end, the whole enterprise collapsed.

隨著該地區(qū)遭受戰(zhàn)爭、貧窮、地震，部分織布工轉(zhuǎn)而織造劣質(zhì)布料，其余織布工成了地道的農(nóng)民。最終，整個產(chǎn)業(yè)崩潰了。

"I think it’s important to remember that it was really a family occupation – we often talk about the weavers and how fantastic they were, but behind their work was the women, doing the spinning," says Hameeda Hossain, a human rights activist who has written a book about the muslin industry in Bengal. "So the industry involved a lot of people."

“我認為，記得這是一種真正的家庭作坊很重要——我們總是談論那些了不起的織布工，但他們的后盾是紡紗婦女”，人權活動人士哈米達·侯賽因說道。他曾寫過一本有關孟加拉平紋細布產(chǎn)業(yè)的書籍?！八赃@個產(chǎn)業(yè)有大量的人力參與”。

As the generations passed, the knowledge of how to make Dhaka muslin was forgotten. And with no one to spin its silky threads, the phuti karpas plant, which had always been hard to tame – no one had been able to grow it away from the Meghna river – retreated back into wild obscurity. The legend of the loom was no more.

隨著幾代人的逝去，織造達卡平紋細布的知識失傳了。由于沒有人紡織普提卡帕斯這種難以駕馭的絲線——沒有人能夠在梅格納河岸以外的地方種植普提卡帕斯——結(jié)果退化到默默無聞的野生狀態(tài)?？棽紮C的傳奇不復存在。

A second chance

第二次機會

Islam was born in Bangladesh and moved to London about 20 years ago. He first became aware of Dhaka muslin in 2013, when the company he works for – Drik – was approached about adapting a British exhibition on the material for a Bangladeshi audience. They felt that it was lacking in detail, so they conducted their own research.

伊斯拉姆出生于孟加拉國，20年前移居到倫敦。他第一次知道達卡平紋細布是在2013年，當時他所在的公司——Drik——被要求修改一場關于這種布料的英國展覽，供孟加拉國觀眾欣賞。他們覺得缺少細節(jié)，于是開展了他們自己的調(diào)查。

Over the next year, Islam and colleagues met people from the local craft industry, explored the region where it had been produced, and looked for tangible examples of Dhaka muslin at museums in Europe. "The V&A has a superb collection with hundreds of pieces of it," he says. "And if you go to the English Heritage Trust they've got 2,000 pieces. And yet Bangladesh didn't have any."

第二年，伊斯拉姆及其同事拜訪了當?shù)厥止I(yè)人士，考察了這種布料的產(chǎn)區(qū)，前往歐洲多家博物館尋找達卡平紋細布的實物樣品?！熬S多利亞與艾爾伯特博物館保存著數(shù)百條上乘樣品”，他說道。英國遺產(chǎn)保護信托保存著兩千條樣品。然而，孟加拉國一條也沒有。

The team eventually curated several exhibitions on the subject, commissioned a film and published a book, authored by Islam. At some point, they started to think that maybe, just maybe, it might be possible to bring the legendary fabric back. Together they founded Bengal Muslin, a collaborative enterprise aimed at doing just that.

最終，該團隊就這一題材組織了多場展覽，委托拍攝了一部電影，由伊斯拉姆執(zhí)筆出版了一本書。他們開始思考也許有一天，這種傳奇布料有可能被復原。為了實現(xiàn)這一目標，他們合伙創(chuàng)立了名為“孟加拉平紋細布”的合作企業(yè)。

The first task was to find a suitable plant. Though there are no phuti karpas seeds in any collection today, they found a neat booklet of its dried, preserved leaves at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, from the 19th Century. From this, it was possible to sequence its DNA.

首要任務是尋找合適的棉花。但當今沒有任何被收藏的普提卡帕斯種子，他們在英國皇家植物園的邱園找到一本19世紀整潔的枯葉標本冊，由此可以對DNA進行測序。

Armed with their target’s genetic secrets, the team went back to Bangladesh. They looked at historical maps of the Meghna river and compared them to modern satellite images to see how its course had changed over the last 200 years, and find the best spots for potential candidates. Then they hired a boat and scoured its immense breadth – it’s 12km (7 miles) wide in places – for wild plants that resembled old drawings.

該團隊掌握了目標的基因奧秘后回到孟加拉國。他們查閱了梅格納河的歷史地圖，對比當代的衛(wèi)星圖片，看看過去兩百年來河道發(fā)生了什么變化，為潛在的種子尋找最佳種植地點。他們租了一條船，搜尋了寬闊無比的河道——某些地方的寬度達12公里（7英里）——參照舊圖紙尋找相似的野生植株。

Any promising options were sequenced and compared to the original. Eventually they found a 70% match – a disheveled shrub which may have had phuti karpas ancestors.

他們對有希望的植株進行測序，然后與原植株進行對比。他們終于找到一種相似度高達70%的植株——這種雜亂的灌木可能與普提卡帕斯有共同的祖先。

To grow it, they initially settled on a plot of land on a small island in the middle of the Meghna, in Kapasia, 30 km (19 miles) north of Dhaka. "It was a very ideal spot. The land is fertile because it was formed through the accumulation of river sediment," says Islam. It was there that in 2015, they planted some test seeds. Soon there were orderly rows of phuti karpas among the dry earth – the first to be cultivated for more than a century.

為了種植這種作物，他們最初選定了梅格納河中部一個小島上的土地，該島位于達卡以北30公里（19英里）的卡帕西亞?！斑@是一個非常理想的種植地點。這里土地肥沃，因為它是由河流泥沙淤積而成”，伊斯拉姆說道。2015年，他們在這里種植了一些試驗種子。干燥的土壤上很快長出了排列有序的普提卡帕斯——一個多世紀以來首次培育這種作物。

The team harvested their first batch of cotton the same year. Though they didn’t yet have enough of the resurrected plants to make 100% authentic Dhaka muslin, they collaborated with Indian spinners to combine ordinary and phuti karpas cotton into a hybrid thread. Next it was time for the weaving – and this proved to be trickier than expected.

同年，該團隊收獲了首批棉花。但他們還沒有足夠多的復活作物來織造100%真正的達卡平紋細布，他們與印度織布工合作，將普通棉花和普提卡帕斯棉花混紡成紗線。下一步是織布——事實證明難度比預期更大。

Because there are still weavers in Bangladesh making jamdani muslin, albeit coarser versions at lower thread counts, initially Islam hoped to simply upgrade their skills and teach them how to produce a higher-quality product that’s closer to the old fabric.

孟加拉國仍有織布工織造堅達尼平紋細布，只是比較粗糙，紗線密度較低。伊斯拉姆最初只是希望提高他們的技術水平，教他們?nèi)绾慰椩斐鲑|(zhì)量更高、更接近于傳統(tǒng)布料的產(chǎn)品。

"But none of them wanted to work on this, as a matter of fact," says Islam. When he told them he wanted to make 300-thread count saris, "they all said that this is crazy".

“可事實上，沒有人愿意這么做”，伊斯拉姆說道。當他告訴他們想要織出300紗線密度的紗麗時，“他們都說不可思議”。

"They said: 'Thank you very much for telling us that story and heritage, but no thanks’," he says. Out of the 25 people he approached, one eventually agreed.

“他們說：非常感謝你給我們講述這個事情和遺產(chǎn)，但還是算了，謝謝”，他說道。在他接洽的25個人里，有1個人終于同意了。

Most weavers in the region are poor, and work in simple huts. So Al Amin, now their master weaver, agreed to have temperature controls and humidifiers added to his workshop, to create the specific conditions needed for making this tricky fabric. Meanwhile some of the 50 or so tools required were no longer available, so the team made their own. One example is the shana, a piece of bamboo cut to have thousands of artificial teeth that can keep the thread in place while it’s worked.

該地區(qū)的多數(shù)織布工都是窮人，在簡陋的小作坊里工作?，F(xiàn)已成為他們首席織布工的阿爾·阿明同意給工作室增添溫控裝置和加濕器，從而為織造這種高難度的布料創(chuàng)造必要的特殊條件。在此期間，50多種必備工具中的一部分已經(jīng)找不到了，所以該團隊自制工具。例如：“紗娜”是一種竹片，帶有人工切割的數(shù)千個鋸齒，用于在紡紗過程中固定住紗線。
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Six grueling months, many more improvisations and plenty of snapped threads later, Amin had made a 300 thread count sari – nowhere near the original Dhaka muslin standard, but significantly higher than any weaver had achieved for generations. "He had the dogged patience that was needed to work with us," says Islam. "We contributed 40% of the effort, but the rest came from him."

在經(jīng)過6個月的艱苦奮斗，使用了更多的臨時工具，斷裂了許多紗線后，阿明織造出300線密度的紗麗——與達卡平紋細布的標準相差甚遠，但遠高于幾代織布工所能達到的標準。“他擁有與我們合作所需要的鍥而不舍精神”，伊斯拉姆說道?！?0%的功勞歸于我們，其余的全歸功于他”。

Fast-forward to 2021 and the team have made several saris from their hybrid muslin, which have already been exhibited all over the world. Some have been sold for thousands of pounds – and Islam feels the reception they received proves the fabric has a future. "In this day and age of mass production, it's always interesting to have something special. And the brand is still powerful," he says.

時間一眨眼到了2021年，該團隊使用他們的混紡平紋細布織造出多件紗麗，并在世界各地展覽。其中一些售價高達數(shù)千英鎊——伊斯拉姆覺得這種布料受到的歡迎證明它是有前途的。“在當今的大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)時代，人們總是對特殊的東西感興趣，而且該品牌依然強大”，他說道。
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Today the team have plants growing continuously, though they were forced to abandon the old farm plot due to flooding issues. Now they’re growing the resurrected phuti karpas on a nearby riverbank, which has the added benefit of being accessible without a boat. Islam hopes that one day they’ll be able to make a pure Dhaka muslin sari at an even higher thread count.

如今該團隊在繼續(xù)種植棉花，但由于洪水問題而放棄了那塊農(nóng)田。現(xiàn)在他們在附近的河岸上種植復活的普提卡帕斯，好處是不用乘船就能到達農(nóng)田。伊斯拉姆希望有朝一日，他們能夠織造出真正的達卡平紋細布紗麗，其紗線的密度更高。

As it happens, so does the Bangladeshi government, who have given the project their backing. "It’s a matter of national prestige," says Islam, who is also keen to upgrade the country’s image. "It’s important that our identity is not poor, with a lot of garment industries, but also the source of the finest textile that ever existed," he says.

孟加拉國政府恰恰也有此意，為該項目提供了支持?！斑@是國家聲譽問題”，伊斯拉姆說道，他也熱衷于提高該國的形象?！爸匾氖俏覀儾皇秦毟F國家，我們有許多服裝產(chǎn)業(yè)，并且曾經(jīng)是最上乘紡織品的產(chǎn)地”，他說道。

Who knows, perhaps soon a new generation will be wearing this ancient fabric – and grappling with its somewhat risqué transparency.

誰說得準呢，也許新一代人將很快穿上這種古老的布料——設法解決有點風險的透明問題。