which is next forced through a series of gra duated holes on a stout steel plate, with the aid of a simple apparatus called 'ghawa'. When the 'kandla' is passed through the last hole, it is reduced to the thinness of a wire of a very narrow gauge. The wire thus obtained is coiled round a reel technically known as 'pairee' which is fixed by a spike at one end of a small table about a foot high. At the other end of the table is similarly fixed a larger reel called the 'Paira'. At the middle of the table is fixed firmly by means of wedges driven into notches in the table, a steel plate called Jantar or Jantri having graduated wholes. One end of the wire coiled on the Pairee is filed down and laid through a hole in the Jantar and then fastened on the upper edge of the Paira. The Paira is then turned round by an iron rod and a wire of the desired thinness is coiled on it by being led through a certain hole in the Tantar. By repeating the process a wire of any thinness may be obtained. The Yantar or apparatus for making Tinsel Works. Wire-making-The wires used in this industry are either white or yellow in colour. In both cases however they are made of silver-the yellow ones are made of silver with a coating of gold. Copper or zinc coated with silver is often used to produce what is called Jhuta (false) wire, in contradistinction to what is called Sacchha (pure) wire, which is made of pure silver. The process of making gold or yellow wire is as follows: 40 or 60 Tolas (1 tola=180 grains) of silver are first melted and moulded into a bar of the shape of a candle tapering at one end. The bar is next wrapped up with very thin gold leaves and tied over firmly with silk threads. It is then gently heated on fire till the gold leaves are fixed on the silver bar and the process of gilding is complete. Gold weighing 10 or 12 as. (1anna-11-25 grains) is used for gilding a bar of the weight referred to above. Of course, the quantity of gold used varies with the colour and quality of the tinsel to be produced. The candle-shaped bar thus produced is called 'passa' or 'kandla' Usually a tola of metal is drawn into 600 to 1200 yards of wire. The gold or silver coating becomes closely fixed by this process and the wire has the appearance of bright gold or silver. The Jantar or the steel disc having a series of graduated holes in it, is one of the important tools in this industry. The Calcutta workers still use the indigenous tool but the Patna people prefer the foreign commodity. There is no intrinsic difference between the two-the European article is a bit more polished but is far more costly. Once the wire is prepared it is put through further operations to produce what is called Salma. Salmas are of two kinds :(1) Kora Salma (coiled round wire), (2) Dobka Salma (coiled flat wire). The former is pepared in the following way :-At one end of a table a small wheel is fixed. A few inches away through holes in two pegs an iron rod is fixed horizontally. A round iron spindle is then joined at one end of the rod by a piece of bamboo. At the other end of the table is fixed a reel of gold or silver wire. The wheel is then joined with the iron rod by means of a string. When the wheel is turned this rod is set in rapid motion. The spindle to which it is joined by an end of the wire from the reel is also set in motion; thus the wire is coiled round the spindle, being guided by the fingers of the workman. Thus a Salma of any length is made. By changing the iron spindle mentioned above Salmas of different fineness are obtained. Dobka Salma is prepared in the same way as Kora Salma, but the wire is flattened in the first instance before the Salma is prepared. The flattened wire is called Badla or Lemetta and is prepared in the following way :"The workman seated before a small and highly polished steel anvil about 2 inches broad with a steel plate in which there are two or three holes set opposite to him and perpendicular to the anvil draws through these holes as many wires-two or three as it may be by a motion of the index finger and the thumb of his left hand, striking them rapidly but firmly with a steel hammer, the face of which is also polished like that of the anvil. This flattens the wire perfectly." The whole is so skilfully manipulated that no portion of the wire escapes the blow of the hammer. Kanki and Bullion may be classed under 'Dobka Salma' but their preparation is somewhat different from that of Dobka Salma. The spindle used in preparing Kanki is not round but triangular or rectangular. Bullion is similarly prepared but the Badla used is curved and not a flat one. The curvature is obtained by passing the Badla through the hole in a Jantar in which a round fine wire is fixed leaving a semi-lunar narrow space. The Badla thus obtained is wound on its concave side round the spindle. Kallabatoon--It is prepared by twisting a flattened gold or silver wire round silk thread. The process is thus described by Captain Meadows Taylor: "The silk is very lightly twisted and is rolled upon a winder. The end is then passed over a polished steel hook fixed to a beam in the ceiling of the workshop and to it is suspended a spindle with a long thin bamboo shank, slightly weighted to keep it steady, which nearly touches the floor. The workman gives the shank of the spindle a sharp turn upon his thigh which sets it spinning with rapidity. The gold wire which has been wound on a reel as it passes behind the maker is there Kallabatun or Tinsel entwined Silk. applied to the bottom of the silk thread near the spindle and twists itself upwards, being guided by the workman as high as he can conveniently reach or nearly his own height, upon the thread: but it is impossible to describe in exact terms the curiously dexterous and rapid process of the manipulation. The spindle is then stopped; the thread now covered with wire is wound upon the spindle and fastened in a notch of the shank when the silk thread is drawn down and the spindle is again set spinning with the same result as before." Making dress and ornaments for idols. Chumkis or spangles-are prepared in the following interesting manner. A wire is coiled round an iron rod of about to of an inch in diameter. The coil is then taken out and cut into rings with a pair of scissors. Then one by one they are dropped on a highly polished anvil with the aid of forceps and hammered by a polished hammer. With every stroke of the hammer a chumki is produced. The various products of this industry were formerly in great demand in this country and were used in decorating idols, for making fashionable garments, for embroidery and brocade and in making trappings for horses and elephants. The demand in these respects has decreased but wire and tinsel articles are now being extensively used for making dresses for dancing girls and itinerant theatricals. The manufacture of decorations for idols forms an important branch of the industry but it is difficult to ascertain when this custom of decorating images came into vogue. That the practice is not of recent date is evident from the fact that Ramprasad (the famous Bengali composer of religious songs), who lived about two hundred years ago, has referred to this practice in one of his songs as in the following lines: "The mother (goddess) who adorns the world with gold and gems-shame to you women. who want to adorn that mother with wire and tinsel." Preparations of tinsel ornaments was the hereditary occupation of a sect of the Hindus called 'Malakars' or the garland and pith decorationmakers. But it has now been taken up by all castes, both and men Machuabazar Kumartuli and in Calcutta are the centres of this industry but there is also a shop at Bhawanipur. A large number of women is employed in this trade. They are mostly members of middle class Hindu families who devote their leisure hours to this work. The wages in this industry vary from 4 to 5 annas in the slack season to 10 to 12 annas in the busy season (Puja time). Krishnagar, Sherpur and Dacca are other centres of this industry. The process of decorating images is as intricate as it is elaborate. The principal departments of it are: 1. Decoration of the frame, marrh-as it is called, in which the images are set. 2. Preparation of mookoot or tiara or crown. 3. Preparation of anchla or scarf. 4. Preparation of necklace, bajoo or circular ornament worn on the upper arm, bracelet, etc. Chumki, salma, kankni, badla, and bullion are used in ornamenting garments, caps, turbans, jackets, saddles, belts, etc. Velvet, silk, or linen embroidered with them is called Zardozi work. A Zardoz earns from as. 8 to Re. 1 per diem. Embroidery work again is of various classes each having a distinct name. Thus gold and silver embroidery done with Kallabatoon thread in the districts of Murshida Ele bad and Patna is called Karchab. phant jhul, horse trappings, canopies with fringes, caps, slippers, money-bags, belts are embroidered with Karchab work, also called Karchikan work. We have all heard of Kinkhab, which is the heaviest kind of gold embroidery. Gold and silver embroidery on cotton is called Kamdani. Silk fabrics with raised patterns are called Brocades. Murshidabad, Benares, Ahmedabad, Surat, Multan, Poona, Aurangabad are places most noted for silk brocades.Benares saris noted for their excellence throughout India, are specially prized by Bengali ladies. In 1890 the Hon'ble Mr. E. W. Collin, I. C. S.. made the following remarks regarding gold silver and em broidery in his report on Arts and Indus try in Bengal: Gota, Kinara and Anchal respectively. Dacca, Murshidabad, Patna, and Benares are the principal centres of the Indian lace manufacture. Gold woven ribbons called seerpech are worn on the head by bridegrooms as also plumes made of finely cut silver leaf. Another product of the tinsel industry is the topor or the cone-shaped pith hat decorated with tinsel worn by bridegrooms at marriages. The practice has been thus Making dress and ornaments for idols. "Gold and silver embroidery is chiefly apapplied to caps and to the trappings of horses and elephants. Murshidabad and Patna have several skilled embroiderers and there are altogether about 1,000 men engaged in this work in the latter town. Gold and silver wire (kallabatoon) is made in Patna and Murshidabad in small quantities but most of the gold thread comes from Benares and the North-Western Provinces." Gold and silver wires are also used in lace making, lace ribbons, borders and edgings for Indian use and are known as noticed by the Rev. Lal Behary De in his immortal picture of Bengal Peasant Life :"A costly dress for the bridegroom has been purchased; the village Malakar was ordered to prepare as gaudy a crown as he could make, for all Bengali bridegrooms, however poor, put on tinsel crowns at the wedding; equally gaudy shoes, embroidered with silver, have been brought up from Calcutta." Shatkas or hooka-snakes or hooka-pipes are invariably adorned with gold and silver wires-the costly ones being made cut into 160 pieces and a tola of silver into 140 pieces. There are leather cases (6" x 4") made of dried jhilli or membrane of deer. 140 or 160 pieces of the beaten sheets of silver or of gold as the case may be, are placed in the bag each between two dried membranes in the case. The leather cases are hammered for a long time on a slab of stone till the foils measure 4" x 5". One hundred and sixty leaves of gold weighing one tola are sold at Rs. 28 and 140 silver leaves of the same weight at Re. 1-8. We shall now close with a brief notice of the general condition of the industry in Bengal. Like many indigenous industries the wire and tinsel industry has now deteriorated. Patna now in the Province of Behar and Calcutta are now the two principal seats of this industry and in the former place there are some families who have made this industry a hereditary occupation. The industry however is in a moribund condition, the out-turn being small and the export confined to the limits of Behar. There is no likelihood of the industry being revived here, as Benares where readymade articles are always stocked and where the wares are of superior finish supply all demands. The undermentioned are the more noted 'wire and tinsel' factory owners. The Crown and scarfs to adorn the idols with. of Kallabatoon and lace, the inferior stuff being made of jhuta lace. The pipes called snake's by old Anglo-Indians, are manufactured in all the larger towns in upper India. Tinsel printing is another branch of the Tinsel industry which deserves notice. Tinsel printing on coloured cloth is done in many places in Behar and the United Provinces. These clothes are much prized by the women of the poorer classes, who use them on festive occasions.. The manufacture of gold and silver leaves should also come in for a notice in this note. Imitation gold and silver leaves used formerly to be prepared at Maniktala in Calcutta, but the machinemade foreign article has completely ousted the indigenous commodity. Pure gold and silver leaves are, however, prepared at Chitpur, where there are four shops. Nazir Hossain of Patna, who owns the shop at no. at no. 88 Lower Chitpur Road, is considered an expert in the industry. The process of manufacture is also interesting. Sheets of gold or silver are first prepared. A tola of gold sheet is then Fajju Mian Haji Md. Ismail of Haji Tagiram Fasahat Ka Doulat Mian. Mughalpura. In Calcutta also the industry is in the same plight as at Patna. About 35 years ago the industry was in a very flourishing condition in Calcutta. There were about 9 big shops at Machuabazar, each shop having 20 to 25 expert workmen who earned from Rs. 2 to Rs. 5 each per diem. A German manufacturer however came to |