are for the most part made of paper, cut into various shapes and stuck over with bits of many-colored tinfoil, pea- cocks feathers, &c. Ahmedabad is specially mentioned by Mr. F. S. P. Lely in the Bombay Gazetteer , 1879, as celebrated for this manufacture. There the great occasion for the sale of these ornaments is the birthday of Krishna. The rich will sometimes spend as much as 25/. in decking out a single image of the god with this paper trinketry, which perishes as used. Another article much in demand on that day is enamel: and among the chief enamelled articles sold everywhere in India are eyes for the gods, made of almond-shaped pieces of silver, enamelled white with a black pupil.
Feathers . — At Poona, peacock’s feathers are made up with cuscus grass [Andropogon Calamus-Aromaticus], green beetle’s wings, and spangles, into fragrant and very showy fans and mats.
Leather . — Curious toys, figures, and artificial flowers are made by a single family of the shoemaker mucht caste at Nursapur in the Godavari district. They are very like those made at Condapilli in the Kistna district.
In India shoes are valued not so much for the soundness of their leather as the beauty of their ornamentation ; and formerly a great industry in gold embroidered shoes flourished at Lucknow. They were in demand all over India, for the native kings of Oudh w’ould not allow’ the shoemakers to use any but pure gold wire on them. But, when we annexed the kingdom, all such restrictions w r ere removed, and the bazaars of Oudh were at once flooded with the pinchbeck embroidered shoes of Delhi, and the Lucknow shoemakers’ occupation w r as swept aw r ay for ever by the besom of free trade.
Bengal ladies use a toilet box made of leather, and cloth, orna- mented w T ith shells, for holding their pomades, and the kohl with which they blacken their eyelids ; and the little compressed cakes of cotton dyed with saffron and lac-dye, w r hich they use for stain- ing their hands and feet; and the red lead used by married
