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O^TOGMIA.P

IEON AATD STEEL WORK

IN T'Hi: PROVINCE OF BENGAL

E. K. WATSON, MA. (CASTAB.), B.Sc. (Losi,.),

INDIAN EDUCATIONAL SERVICE.

illustrated by 13 Plates of Drawings ani Photographs
prepared by the Author.

Calcutta:
THE BENGAL SECRETARIAT BOOK DEPOT.

1907.

[ Price— Indian, Rs. 2-8 ; English, 3s. 6d. ]

vane, DEPT.

IRON AND STEEL WORK

IN THE PROVINCE OF BENGAL,

E. li. WATSON, M.A. (CANTAB.), B.Sc. (LOND.),
INDIAN EDUCATIONAL SERVICK.

tlhstratecl by 13 Plates of Drawings anl Photographs
prepared by the Author.

Calcutta:

THE BENGAL SECRETARIAT BOOK DEPOT

1907.

AC-

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c 3

PREFACE.

THIS Monograph has been prepared in accordance with the orders of
Government, contained in Miscellaneous Circular No. 5 of the Revenue,
Political and Appointment Department, dated Calcutta, 9th March 1907.

These orders directed that the Monograph should be confined to
indigenous manufactures. It is easy to show that the art of working in
iron and steel in Bengal has from very remote times been indebted to
the outside world for assistance, not only by ideas but by actual supervision
and control of the workers by foreign experts, so that it becomes almost
a question whether any part of the industry can be called indigenous. I
have, however, taken the orders to mean that the work of large engineer-
ing firms, conducted under European supervision, should be excluded from
the Monograph ; and in consequence I have given only such a brief
account of such firms as is absolutely essential for a properly proportioned
sketch of the whole industry and for a discussion of its future prospects.

305884

CONTENTS.

PAGB.

CHAPTER I. — History of the subject 1-8

„ II. — A Statistical Account of the Present Industry . . . 9-19

„ III. — Production of Iron and Steel by indigene as Methods . . 20-27

„ IV.— The Village Blacksmith and his methods .... 28-35

V.— The Village Blacksmith's Productions .... 36-44

„ VI. — A short account of the Modern Industry . . . . 45-50

„ VII. — Instruction in the Technique of the Industry . . . 51-52

„ VIII. — Prospects of the Iron and Steel Industry in Bengal . . 53-57

APPBHDIX. — Sources from which information has been obtained . . i-ii

Explanation of the Plates iii-vi

Plates I— XIII.

A MONOGRAPH ON IRON AND STEEL WORK

IN THE PROVINCE OF BENGAL.

CHAPTER I.

HISTOEY OF THE SUBJECT.
As is well known, the general history of India before the Christian

era, or indeed before the Muhammadan conquest

B.C. 1400 to B.C. 150. , ,, . . ,. „ , ,

of this country, is practically unrecorded, and we

are almost entirely dependent for any knowledge of these earlier periods
on the Vedas, on Manu's Code, and later on the Puranas. Archaeological
investigations have also been of some use in supplementing the knowledge
gained from these books.

The Veda* are undoubtedly the first records available. Whilst the
date or dates of their production is to some extent uncertain, we may for
our purposes assume that they were written about the 14th century B.C.
These books contain several interesting references to iron and steel and
to weapons. The Vedas must of course be taken to refer to the whole
of the country of the Hindus, and the present Province of Bengal will
be included. The chief weapons referred to are the bow and arrow
(Wilson's Eig Veda IV, 26), swords (loc cit. II, 156), spears (loc cit. IV,
25), javelins (loc oil. II, 292), lances (loc cit. I, 174), hatchets (loc cit. I,
120) and the discus (loc cit. Ill, 35); and the references to the protective
coat-of-mail are very numerous (loc cit. II, 66 ; II, 310 ; IV, 23 ; IV, 27 ;
IV, 80). That the weapons above enumerated were made of iron is also
stated (loc cit. I, 226, and IV, 27 — the latter reference being to the arrow
in particular and the former to weapons in general). They are further
mentioned as being whetted on a grindstone (loc cit. II, 33 and II, 310),
and polished to enhance their brightness (loc cit. II, 326). According to
Babu Rajendralal Mitra (Antiquities of Orissa), there is also a reference in
the Rig Veda to the use of razors, which would be absolutely useless unless
made of steel. There is a reference in the Satarudrya hymn of the
Vajasaneyi Sanhita of the Vajur Veda which shows that coat-of-mail was
made of iron (Muir's Sanskrit Texts IV, p. 270). In the Dhanurveda,
which is a subsidiary Veda, containing only the rules regarding archery,
there is reference to a special arrow, termed the Ndrdcha, of which the
peculiarity was its construction entirely of iron, whilst of the ordinary
arrow only the head or blade was of this metal. In the Brhut Sanhitd of
Vardha Mihria (Chap. IV, which will be found translated by Kern in the
Journal R. As. Soc. N. S. VI, pp. 81 et. seq.) there is given a most detailed
and interesting account of the tempering of swords, which shows that even
at this period steel was distinguished from iron, and the nicety of this process
of tempering was appreciated, as it was known that very small alterations
in the details of the process would materially affect the result. The

various recipes given are recommended by statements as to the capabilities
of blades which have been subjected to the described treatments. Thus it is
described how to temper a blade so that it will cut off an elephant's
trunk, or so that it will be fit for piercing stones, or so that it cannot be
whetted on a stone or blunted by other iron instruments. The chief
variations in the tempering process seem to have been effected by using a
variety of liquids for the quenching — a means which is employed at the
present time. There are mentioned as imbruing materials blood, ghee,
water, milk from a mare, a camel, an elephant, a mixture of fish- bile, deer-
milk, horse-milk and goat-milk blended with toddy, an unguent compounded
of the milky juice of the calotropis (the use of this to be preceded by
rubbing the blade with oil), goat's horn ink, dung from doves and mice,
and finally a stale mixture of potash of plantains with buttermilk. From
the same source we may infer that*the workmen of this period were able
to impart a really high finish to the weapons they manufactured, for we
find that a king was enjoined not to look at his own face in his sword —
an act he would scarcely have attempted in any but a very highly polished
blade.

From MamCs Code, which is supposed to have been written about 900
B.C., we learn the manner in which the people were divided into castes
at this early period. We find that the present division was not then in
force, but that there were four chief castes and minor mixed classes resulting
from the inter-marriage of members of the four original castes. Many
artisan trades were specially assigned to these minor mixed classes, but there
is no definite mention of the blacksmith's trade being assigned to any parti-
cular class. At the same time there are various passages in the book which
show clearly that the use of iron was very common, not only for the
manufacture of weapons, but for other purposes such as for tipping the
share of the plough, for bedsteads, and for personal ornaments.

From B.C. 150 onwards we are able to separate to some extent the
B C 150 t AD 400 history of Bengal from that of the rest of India —

at least so far as our subject is concerned. We

are able to get very valuable information for the period B.C. 150 to A.D.
400 from a study of temples built in Bengal during this period and which
still remain in good preservation. The most important of these are the
rock-cut temples of Udayagiri Hill, Orissa (circa B.C. 150), Buddha Gaya
(B.C. 100-100 A.D.) and the Amravati tope in Orissa (A.D. 300-400).
On and about these temples are many well preserved sculptures of warriors
wielding swords, daggers, spears, bows and arrows, battle-axes, shields, etc.,
and from these we are able to get very valuable information as to the
shape and design of these weapons. That the weapons depicted are those
which were used in Bengal at this period we may safely conclude from
the fact that the temples are built in Bengal, and that the weapons were
chiefly if not entirely made -of iron or steel, and thus of direct interest
to us, we may .conclude from the frequent mention of iron and steel
weapons in the Vedas (vide supra) at a much earlier period.

In Plate I are a number of drawings of weapons taken from the
hands of warriors in the sculptures at Udayagiri, Barhut, Buddha Gaya and
Amravatio The drawings are all made to a uniform scale of one inch to
one foot (on the assumption that the length of a man's forearm is 18

( 3 )

inches). Almost all the sculptures which are of interest to us have been very
carefully photographed or lithographed to illustrate Fergusson and Burgese,
"Cave Temples of India," Fergusson's "Tree and Serpent worship,"
Cunningham's " Stupa of Barhut," and Rajendralal Mitra's "Antiquities of
Orissa" and "Buddha Gaya"; also there are casts of some of the more
important in the Archaeological Gallery of the Indian Museum in Calcutta.

We may note the two widely different types of shield depicted at
Udayagiri and at Amravati respectively [Plate I, Figs. 11 and 9 (a)]— the
one exceedingly massive and apparently circular, the other very long and
narrow and of slight construction. The swords are of many shapes and
sizes. That depicted in Fig. 3 is a barbarous looking weapon, and reminds
one somewhat of the sacrificial knives at present used in Bengal for cutting
off the heads of goats. Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 are all characterised by their
massiveness. Figs. 1 and 4 recall somewhat the shape of the short Roman
sword, but they are very much longer than the Roman weapon. A sword
somewhat similar to Fig. 1 was used by the Assyrians, and the Greeks
of the historic age used a sword somewhat similar to that depicted in
Fig. 2 (a). Spears do not occur at Udayagiri or Buddha Gaya. Fig. 1 (a)
is similar to an Assyrian spear. A careful comparison of these weapons
with those used by other nations at or before this period would no doubt
be a very interesting historical study.

The weapons are certainly the most interesting objects portrayed at
Udayagiri, Buddha Gaya and Amravati so far as we are concerned, as
they were almost certainly all made of iron or steel. There are, however,
other objects which were probably in part made of iron, e.g., the imple-
ment used by the mahout in prodding his elephant [Fig. 5 (a)], which is
of almost identical pattern with the implements at present used for this
purpose. The wheels of chariots were probably bound with an iron tyre.
On one of the friezes at Amravati [see Plate xcviii, " Tree and Serpent
Worship" by J. Fergusson]] agriculturalists are depicted at work using
kodalis very similar to those now employed.

We are almost entirely dependent for our knowledge of this period
B.C. 150 to A.D. 400 on the temples already mentioned. I have, however,
found one weapon in actual existence which is supposed to have been made
before the Christian era. This is a spear or lance known as Peshro buttum,
which belongs to the Nawab of Murshidabad and is always carried at the
head of processions as a trophy. It is said to have originally belonged
to Vikramaditya and to have been taken by the Muhammadans from the
Hindus. It is made of beautifully tempered steel inlaid with gold, and
bears on the blade the image of Vishnu on the one side and of Goroor
on the other. The character of the ornamentation on the blade bears very
marked resemblance to much of the carving and ornamental work on the
Orissan temples, and it appears probable to me that this spear was made
in Bengal. If so, it is at the same time the oldest and the finest piece
of work in steel which Bengal can boast. This spear is depicted in
Plate III, Fig. 2 (a).

The Orissan temples of Bhuvanesvar (650 A.D.) and Kanarak

rich in weU Preserved and

A.D. 400 to A.D. UOO.

highly detailed carvings, and from these we can

continue our study of the weapons of Bengal. Plate II and Plate III,

B 2

Fig. 1, are taken from Rajendralal Mitra's "Antiquities of Orissa" in which
the Orissan temples of this period are described in detail. Again, the
careful comparison of these weapons with those of other nations would
form a very interesting study. There is depicted here a short broad sword
or dagger [Plate II, Fig. 1] which is exceedingly like the Roman sword,
even to the severely rectilinear outline of the guard. There is another
weapon which has been frequently described [Plate II, Fig. 22]. It is in
the hand of a kneeling figure, armed also with a very small circular shield
and preparing to receive a blow from his antagonist, who is mounted on
an elephant. This weapon has been described as like a kukri, and it has
been suggested that this figure represents one of the aboriginal inhabitants
of Orissa. It appears to me, however, that this weapon is quite unlike
the Sikkim or Nepalese kukri, but is similar to a kind of dagger which is
said to come from Bhutan. A shield [Plate III, Fig. 1] from the temple
at Kanarak is specially worthy of note for the elaborate ornamentation it
carries. "It is nearly 2^ feet in diameter, bound round the edge with
a metal rim and decorated with an outer band formed of circular plates
of metal bearing impressions in relief of men, horses, elephants, deer, fishes,
birds, tortoises, lizards and floral scrolls, and having a scolloped inner edge.
A medallion of a chaste design covers the centre and to it is attached a
thick bushy yak tail chauri; a second chauri of the same kind but with a
differently formed handle hangs from the top. For distinctive badges it
has two well-formed lizards."

But Kanarak yields us also something more valuable than sculptures.
Here large beams of iron have been used in the building of the Black
Pagoda and still remain. The date of this building is fixed by Fergusson
in the latter half of the 9th century, but Stirling gives it a later date,
viz., 1241. In front of the entrance to the temple, which is on the east
side, amongst the stones, lies a bar of iron 23 feet long and 11| inches
thick and broad. Iron beams are also employed to support the roof in
the Jagamohan or porch, now the only part of the temple standing.
Mr. Fergusson describes the interior of this building (History of
Architecture, page 428), as follows : — " Internally the chamber is singularly
plain, but presents some constructive peculiarities worthy of attention.
On the floor it is about 40 feet square and the walls rise plain to about
the same height. Here it begins to bracket inwards, till it contracts to
about 20 feet, where it was ceiled with a flat stone roof, supported by
wrought iron learns .... showing a knowledge of the properties
and strength of the material that is remarkable in a people who are now
so utterly incapable of forging such masses. The employment of these
beams here is a mystery. They were not needed for strength, as the
building is still firm after they have fallen, and so expensive a false
ceiling was not wanted architecturally to roof so plain a chamber. It
seems to be only another instance of that profusion of labour which the
Hindus loved to lavish on the temples of their gods."

With the possible exception of the Peshro lullum already described,
the iron beams in this temple are the oldest pieces of iron in the province
and are worthy of careful examination. I do not know on what grounds
the beams are described as of wrought iron by Fergusson, and I am not
aware that any samples of the iron have been taken for chemical analysis

( 5 )

or mechanical tests. It may be noted that the celebrated iron pillar at
Delhi is supposed to be of about the same age as these beams or even
earlier (A.D. 400, according to Fergusson), and that this has been shown
to consist of pure wrought iron by chemical analysis.

Supposed to belong to this period also is a large iron gun [Plate IV,
Fig. 1] known as the Bachawali tope, now standing on two masonry pedestals
on the maidan between the palace and the Imambarah of the Nawab Bahadur
of Murshidabad. P. C. Mazumdar in the " Musnud of Murshidabad," 1905,
8ay8: — « The gun was made between the 12th and the 14th centuries,
probably by the Muhammadan rulers of Gour." In the same place the con-
struction of the gun is described as follows:—" .... consisting of two
pieces of different diameters. The smaller portion, which is the chamber,
is 3 feet and 7 inches long with a girth of 4 feet and 4 inches; and the
larger portion, namely the barrel, is 11 feet and 6 inches long with a
girth, at the muzzle, of 7 feet and 9 inches. The diameter of the bore
at the muzzle is 1 foot and 7 inches. The touch hole has been plugged
with melted iron. Eleven rings bind the wrought iron barrel, the inner
surface of which bears ample evidence of the gun's great antiquity. The
rim round the muzzle is ornamented with petals, while one of the rings
resembles a string of beads. On the upper half of the barrel surface,
near the muzzle, fourteen lines, seven on each side, are inlaid with brass.
Eight smaller rings are attached at various points. The breech plug
is driven until its chamfered end dovetails and fits tightly into the
chamber of the barrel, which are tied together with the rings attached
to each."

This gun certainly is a most curious article. It is, so far as I am
aware, the only breech-loading gun ever attempted until quite modern
times. The English were only using muzzle-loaders in 1760. It is difficult
to conceive how the gun can ever have been fired without the breech-
barrel blowing out. The workmanship of the gun is very rough. As to
the method of its construction, I do not think anything can be said
with certainty in the absence of tests of the metal of which it is made.
On the chamber I noticed the same transverse markings which I shall
have to notice later in the great gun called Jahan Kosha which also lies
at Murshidabad. These markings may perhaps indicate that the tube
was built by bending a strip of wrought iron spirally round a mandril,
as in the construction of small arms at Monghyr. Within the barrel
there are some very curious markings. There are two lines which run-
longitudinally down the barrel, one on each side. These make it appear
at first as though the barrel had been cast and these were the lines at
which the two halves of the mould met. In places corrosion has occurred
along these lines showing quite a thin innermost layer and beneath this
rib-like transverse pieces about 3 inches wide at intervals of about one
foot along the barrel.

Rajendralal Mitra (Antiquities of Orissa) has pointed out an indication
of the universal use of iron in Bengal in this period. Most of the Orissan
sculptures, depicting women, are ornamented with bracelets precisely
similar to the khdru of the present day. The most essential point now
is that the khdru must be made of iron, and probably this has been the
ease so long as the khdru in its present form has been worn.

( 6 )

A reference to another use of iron in a book of this period may be
noted. In the Kdlikd Purdna it is stated that a plate for food made
of magnetic iron is most beneficial in overcoming anasarca, jaundice and
ansemia.

After the conquest of Bengal by the Muhammadans it is certain that

all the methods of working in iron and steel
A.D. 1400 onwards.

and of the armourers' trade known to the

Muhammadans were introduced into Bengal. There is no doubt that the
native smiths learnt much from the experts who came with the Muham-
madans, and that the work produced in Bengal suddenly improved in
technique; but at the same time we may deplore the Muhammadan con-
quest as having almost entirely effaced any characteristic indigenous designs
or workmanship, so much so that it is now very difficult to find any
designs of arms or methods of ornamentation thereof which can be said
to be peculiar to Bengal. Weapons were made in Bengal, in Patna,
Monghyr, Dacca, Murshidabad and Burdwan, which in design and orna-
mentation cannot be distinguished from the arms of Persia, Arabia and the
Punjab. It is well known that the Muhammadan Emperors took the
keenest interest in the manufacture of arms of all kinds. Akhbar is
himself described as skilful in the making of guns and the casting of
ordnance, and the most proficient artisans of Europe were induced to
come to the Emperor's court to superintend the construction of arms.
About the time of Akhbar great attention was given to the manufacture
of guns (small arms), but the cannon appear to have been chiefly cast
from brass.

It is difficult to find specimens of arms which one can be sure were
made in Bengal in the 15th and 16th centuries. There is a large cannon
now lying at Murshidabad, known as the Jahan Kosha, made of iron, which
bears an inscription to the effect that it was manufactured at Jehangir
Nagar alias Dacca under the supervision of Shere Mahomed and the
clerkship of Haraballav Das by Jonardan Karmokar in the month of
Jamadinssani of the year 11 of the Joloos, i.e., 1637 A.D. [see Plate IV,
Fig. 23. Another inscription also states that the cannon is made of a
composition of eight metals, namely, gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, mercury,
iron and tin, but at any rate it appears to be chiefly iron. The metal
is very little corroded, which is remarkable considering its age. Here
again the chemical analysis and mechanical tests of a sample of the
metal would most satisfactorily solve the problem of the construction of the
cannon, but from circumstantial evidence it would appear to be wrought.
The barrel shows signs of transverse or rib-like markings, which suggest
that it was built by twisting an iron band into the form of a spiral
round a central core, so that the successive coils of the spiral were in
actual contact and then heating and welding together the coils. From an
examination of the muzzle-end of the cannon one might suggest that the
barrel is built of two or three tubes, as in. modern big guns. The
ornamentation on the outer surface of the barrel is evidently wrought
work, and the design appears to me to be Florentine or Mediterranean
in character. " The cannon is 17 feet and 6 inches long with a girth
of 5 feet at the touch-hole end. The diameter of the touch hole is
1| inches. That of the orifice is 6 inches. The weight of the gun is 212

maunds and the powder required for the charge is 28 seers " (The
Masnud of Murshidabad}.

The weapons of the 18th century are better known, as many speci-
mens are preserved. In the palace of the Maharaja of Burdwan there are
weapons of this period of which the exact history is known. In the village
of Kamarpara, eight miles from Burdwan, there lived many smiths who
made all the arms for the Raj. There is a sword in the possession of the
Maharaja, of which the following story is told: — A smith from Kamarpara
brought this sword for sale to the Raja (the warrior Raja, the father of
Raja Chitra Sen Roy, who reigned about 1700), but asked such a high
price that he was ridiculed and dismissed. On going out from the palace
he chopped through in one stroke of this sword the trunk of a large
tree which stood near the gateway of the palace, but cut it in such a
way that the tree remained standing. In a few days the tree began to
wither and die. On the Raja making enquiries he discovered the reason
of the tree's withering and purchased the sword from the smith at the
original price asked.

There are old matchlock guns in the palace which were made at
Kamarpara and used in a battle in 1761 by the army of Maharaja Tiloke
Chand Bahadur against the English under Captain Martin White [Plate V,
Fig. 3]. There are also spears which were ordinarily used by the armies
of the Raj at this time. Two of the most characteristic forms are known
as licJthu or barchha, a spear with two corkscrew- shaped prongs [Plate V,
Fig. 10] and bigli, a spear with a flambent blade reminding one of the
conventional representation of lighting.

In the armoury of the Nawab Bahadur of Murshidabad are many
weapons of this period made in Bengal. Arms for the Nawab of Bengal
were at one time largely made at Patna. Monghyr was famous for its
guns. In the earlier part of the 18th century these guns were match-lock
of the same pattern as those made at Kamarpara. Towards the end of
the century guns were also made at Monghyr according to the pattern of
those used by the English. The mistries of Bhagalpur produced a sword
recognisable by the characteristic end of the blade [Plate V, Fig. 4].
The mistries of Burdwan made swords also for the Nawab of Bengal.
In the armoury at Murshidabad there is an executioner's sword (Tega
Burdwani) made at Burdwan of characteristic shape [Plate V, Fig. 5].
It appears that smiths came from Burdwan to settle round the court of
Murshidabad, and there are in the armoury many forms of spears which
were no doubt employed in the armies of the Nawab of Bengal and
manufactured at Murshidabad [Plate V, Figs. 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12
and 13].

The chief characteristics of the weapons which we can assign to Bengal
at this period are simplicity of design and absence of ornamentation.
But as already mentioned there were undoubtedly manufactured in this
province many weapons after the pattern of Arabian, Persian and Punjab
arms which could not be distinguished from the patterns. There is only
one spear in the armoury at Murshidabad which shows ornamentation of
some originality, and may have been made in Bengal at this period. This
carries a design in low relief of an elephant, a tiger, and an antelope
[Plate III, Fig. 2(6)].

( 8 )

A peculiar kind of spear named pata and used in Muhammadan
religious processions is probably characteristic of Bengal [Plate V, Fig. 1].

There were undoubtedly many other places than those mentioned at
which arms were manufactured in the 18th century and before. There is
a very old cannon 12| feet in length lying in the jungle which now grows
on the site of the old fort of Bishunpur in the Bankura district. This
was probably manufactured here when the Bishunpur Raj was at its height
between the llth and 18th centuries. At Suri there are a number of
small cannon of unknown age used as ornaments round the Civil Courts.
These came from Rajnugger, which was the seat of a Raj of considerable
importance. The district report from Gay a says : — " There used to be a
considerable industry in these parts in the manufacture of steel weapons
and implements, but it has decayed since the death of the late Maharaja
Sir Jai Pergash Sing Bahadur, K.C.S.I." The Collector of Khulna writes : —
" Protapnagar (in the district of Khulna) has a history of its own. It is
said that all the guns and implements of war required by Raja Protapaditya,
who flourished in the first-half of the 17th century, used to be manufactured
in this village."

CHAPTER II.

A STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE PRESENT INDUSTRY.

I. — NUMBEE OF PERSONS OCCOPIED IN IRON AND STEEL WORK, THEIR

DISTRIBUTION BY DISTRICTS, THEIR CASTB AND RELIGION.

THE Census Tables afford us the only statistical information on this
subject. The tables which are here given are abstracts or compilations
from the volumes dealing with Bengal of the Census of India for 1901.
It is perhaps scarcely necessary to repeat here that the Occupation Tables
are the least satisfactory part of a census and that they do not admit
of profitable examination in detail. Since the division of Bengal is
subsequent to the census of 1901, it is almost impossible to prepare
statistical tables for the restricted Bengal separate from East Bengal.
Something has been attempted in Table II by putting the divisions of
Rajshahi, Dacca and Chittagong in italics, and by omitting these divisions
from the total an estimate is formed of the total number of workers in
restricted Bengal. The difficulty recurs, however, in the statistical exami-
nation of the iron and steel trade : the statistics of the trade for 1901
necessarily refer to undivided Bengal. The year 1901 is the latest for
which we can get a fairly complete statistical survey loth for occupation
and trade, and for the sake of coordination and comparison this year has
oeen selected. It must be understood, therefore, that the statistics given
in this chapter refer to undivided Bengal, except when the contrary is
explicitly stated.

In Table I, abstracted from Table XV, Occupation, Part A of the
Census of Bengal, 1901, are given the number of workers in iron and steel
in the whole province, the classification by occupation being given in
considerable detail, viz., in the groups of the Census Tables.

TABLE I.

Group No.

OCCUPATION.

Total number of actual
workers in British
territory in Bengal.

24. — RAILWAY AND TRAMWAY PLANT.

Males.

Females.

167

Railway and Tramway Factories : owners, managers

• ••

and superior staff.

168

Railway and Tramway Factories : operatives and other

1,363

subordinates.

36. — TOOLS AND MACHISERY.

225

Machinery and engineering workshops : owners,

105

• ••

managers and superior staff.

226

Machinery and engineering workshops : operatiTes and

6,589

other subordinates.

227

Knife and tool-makers

7?0

228

Knife and tool-sellers ... ... ..

283

229

Knife and tool-grinders

230

Plough and agricultural implement makers

6,481

628

231

232

Mechanics, other than railway mechanics

4,285

233

Machinery dealers, etc. ... ...

'*2

234

Sugar press makers, owners and agents ...

• • •

Group No.

OCCUPATION.

Total number of actual
workers in British
territory in Bengal.

Males.

Females.

37. — ARMS AND AMMUNITION.

235

Arms and Ammunition Factories : superior staff
Ditto ditto : operatives and other
subordinates.

30
455

...

237

238

339

240

241

242

Gtm Carriage Factories : managers and superior staff...
Ditto : workmen and other subordi-

"255

• • *

nates.

243
244
245

Gun -makers, menders, and sellers ... ...
Ammunition, gunpowder and firework makers

112

1,267

246

247

Makers of swords, spears and other weapons
Sellers of swords, spears, and other weapons

128
10

• • •

46. — IKON AND STEEL.

326
327
328

OOO / -.\

O *O [fti

Iron Foundries: owners, managers and superior staff
Ditto: operatives and other subordinates ..
Workers in iron and hardware
Iron snwlters ...

108
1,827
79,651
673

1
14

2,792
176

328 (6)
329

Look-makers and sellers ...
Sellers of iron and hardware

93
2,964

504

58. — RAILWAY.

4 14 (a)

Railway mechanics ... *..

2,224

...

60.— WATER.

427

Dockyards : workmen and other subordinates ...
All branches of iron and steel work

5,700

161

115,531

4,580

The total population of Bengal, exclusive of Native States, was in
1901 returned as 74,744,866, and therefore the number of ivorkers in iron and
steel per 10,000 of the population was 15'4 (male) and 0'5 (female) or 15'9 in all.
From this table we may also get a rough idea of the number of persons
employed in iron and steel works conducted on European lines, for we may
assume that groups 225, • 226, 232, 235, 236, 241, 242, 244, 326,327,
328 (a), 414 (a), and 427 are all so employed. The total number of persons
in these groups is 20*2 per cent, of the total number of workers in iron
and steel.

In Table II, compiled from Table XV, Occupation, Part B of the
Census of Bengal, 1901, is given the distribution by districts of the workers
in iron and steel. In the case of small branches (groups) of the industry in
which only a few persons are employed, the distribution by districts is not
given, and therefore the total number of persons returned in Table II is
somewhat less than in Table I.

( 11 )

TABLE II. — Distribution by districts.

111

S °

•=i

S"5
* a

Jjs

° s

13 °

, i

^ t.

— i

•

•—

.. 3

•* 2 "^

c p.

"«

0 .

00 °°

DIVISION AND DUTBICT.

6.— Machine
ngineering v
perativeg an
nbordinates.

.— oj

2. — Mechani
ban railway
ice.

r.— Iron fo
peratives «n<
abordinati'8.

J.— Workers
nd hardware.

a
o

).— Sellers
nd hardware

ri.

I rfe

.£•- £•

"d t-

- -

•3"°
'. g^

ggO.0.

lsa

§5"

CM C n

c5 a

55 «>

2 a£

5s3

Eurdtcan Division —

Burdwan

210

376

2,480

...

hirbhum ...

...

766

>..

Bankura ...

...

*..

* ..

2224

.*.

.Midnapore ...

8,790

...

108

"23

Hooghiy

118

1,357

»**

246

Howrah

4,334

1,639

935

1,923

...

170

930

1,801

Prvidency Division—

24-Parganas ...

672

664

168

3,878

266

608

Calcutta

1,127

1,788

332

2,307

...

692

3,830

>'adia ...

• • .

2,663

...

Murshidabad ...

106

'"5

1,117

...-

Jes.aore

3,414

...

Khulna ...

...

886

>•*

...

'"2

Sajikaki Divition—

Eajshahi

...

896

•••

Dinajpur

• ••

...

611

...

Jalpaiguri

...

389

...

Darjeeling ...

...

160

...

Bangpnr „.

...

1,001

*••

216

Boera

«»,

...

SOS

•••

"*8

Pabna

...

28.

...

886

...

"ss

Daeca Dioiticn —

Dacca ...

. . .

*•»

1J98

• ••

100

Myruensingh

...

1,408

314

«••

Faridpur

...

1,070

...

***

Baekerpunge

...

946

...

Chiitagong Division—

Tippera

*••

...

*••

1,110

...

150

...

ISoakkali

...

470

«..

...

Chittagong
Chit t agon g Hill

...

5
S

...

821
133

•*•

1
3

...

Tracts.

Patna Division—

Patna

...

• *.

2,026

•••

Gaya

••*

...

• ••

'"a

3,766

...

Shahabad

160

...

6,670

...

' 2

...

Saran

• ••

...

2,261

...

Chaznparan

. . *

1,41!!

Muzartarpur
Darbkanga

lie

'"6

1,837
1,717

9
63

"25

Ekagalpur Di*iiion-~

Monghyr

Bkagalpur
Purnea

..*

• *•

121
36
3

• *»

704
736
1,849

640

187
47
33

214
12
6

'~i

Malda

..*

208

...

634

* . •

Sonthal Parganas ..,

112

...

3,295

...

"'i

Oritta Division—

Cuttack

926

t*>

2,674

Balasore

643

...

• • •

Angul and Kkond-

...

629

...

. » .

mals.

Puri ...

...

664

...

• **

1,368

Ckcta Nagpw Division

Hazaribagh
Rancki . . .

...

249
3,650

...

*••

1.887
3,407

...

11
261

...

Palamau
Manbhum
Singhbhum

395
1
14

...

'"S

1,992
4,363
1,066

...

283

.«*

14
8

•*«

( 12 )

An examination of this table brings out little information which
could not be obtained less laboriously in other ways. It shows very
clearly the concentration of machinery and engineering workshop
operatives and mechanics in Howrah and Calcutta. The iron foundries
are also very clearly located in the neighbourhood of Calcutta and
Howrah and in the Burdwan district (the Barakar Iron and Steel
Works). It will be noticed, however, that no iron foundry operatives
are returned in the Monghyr district, but that this district appears
to be absolutely singular in possessing 640 iron smelters, whilst only
3 other districts are shown to possess this class of workman, viz.,
Darbhanga 29, Cuttack 3 and Champaran 2. There can be no doubt
that these curious figures merely represent a statistical error and that
these 640 iron-smelters are operatives at the East Indian Eailway
rolling stock works at Jamalpur of much the same class as the workers
at Barakar returned as iron foundry operatives in the Burdwan
district. No information can be obtained from the table as to the
location of that class of iron workers now rapidly becoming extinct—
the smelters of iron by the indigenous method. The table shows a
concentration of railway mechanics in the Howrah district which is
due to the East Indian Railway wagon shops at Lilooah, and in
the Monghyr district to the rolling stock works of the same railway
at Jamalpur. I cannot understand a considerable concentration at
Eangpur. The workers in iron and hardware, group 328, are the
village smiths or Kamars. This group forms 70-80 per cent, of
the total workers in iron and steel in the province. They are
fairly evenly distributed throughout the province, the average number
in a district being about 2,000, the minimum 133 in the Chittagong
Hill Tracts and the maximum 6,670 in the Shahabad district. The
population of the Chittagong Hill Tracts is less than that of any
other district and explains the minimum. The returns for plough
and agricultural implement makers are interesting as showing very
clearly the essentially agricultural districts. The Ranchi and Cuttack
districts show the largest returns for this group.

From this table, by omitting the divisions of Rajshahi, Dacca
and Chittagong, we obtain 100,487 workers in iron and steel. From
the ordinary population tables we find that the population of these
divisions amounted to 24,026,878, and therefore the remaining population
of Bengal was 50,717,988. In this w#y we find the number of
workers in iron and steel per 10,000 of the population was 19'8 over
an area roughly corresponding with the present restricted Province of
Bengal.

Very little information can be obtained from the Census Tables
as to the caste of the workers in iron and steel in the province,
as in the tables dealing with occupation by caste the workers in
these metals are classed in part with workers in other metals and
precious stones and in part with the caterers for supplementary
requirements.

The total number of workers in iron and hardware (group 328
of the Occupation Tables) is 82,443. Of these 49,011 or 59'4 per cent,
are Kamars and Lohars and are following their traditional occupation-

( 13 )

The remaining 40' 6 per cent, of the workers in this group are of other
castes. A few of these are aboriginals, such as the Nepalese Eamis,
the Koli of the Sonthal Parganas and the Agariahs of Chota Nagpur for
whom also the traditional occupation is in iron and hardware, but the
majority are of castes with other traditional occupations which they have
abandoned for this work. On the other hand the total number of working
Kamars and Lohars in the province is 208,461, so that of these only 23 '5
per cent, have adhered to their traditional occupation.

Concerning the caste of the other workers in iron and steel, the

engineering works operatives, the mechanics, iron smelters, manufacturers

of arms and ammunition, etc., it is impossible to get any information from
the tables.

A sufficient idea of the religion of the workers in iron and steel may
be obtained from Subsidiary Table VI of the Census of Bengal, 1901.

The following Table III is an abstract therefrom: —

TABLE III.

OCCUPATION.

DISTRIBUTION BY RELIGION OF 1,000 PERSONS
FOLLOWING EACH OCCUPATION.

Hindu.

Muaalman.

Christian.

Animistic.

Others.

Railway and tramway plant ...

592

293

• ••

Tools and machinery ...

791

137

Arms and ammunition

493

483

• ••

lion and steel

944

...

The most striking features of this table are the small figures for
Musalman workers in iron and steel on a small scale (the sub-order iron
and steel in this table is chiefly the workers on a small scale — the village
blacksmiths) and the large figures for Musalman workers in the manufacture
of arms and ammunitions. As this manufacture is practically only
carried on in the Government ordnance factories, it means that about
50 per cent, of the operatives in these factories are Musalmans. Generally
speaking, we may say that the Musalman workers in iron and steel
are almost confined to factories conducted on European lines and that
the Musalman blacksmith working in his own home on a small
scale is very rarely found. This agrees with my own observations when
on tour.

II. — PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OP IRON AND STEEL IN THE PROVINCE.

The production of iron in the province is very small. The Bengal
Iron and Steel Company, Limited, of Barakar have for the last few years

produced about 50,000 tons of pig-iron per annum. The actual figures
kindly supplied by Mr. M°Farlane, Manager of the Barakar Iron Works, are
as follows : —

TABLE IV.

Pig iron,

Castings.

•

Tons. cwt.

Tons. cwt. qr.

f!898

19,719 10

7,833 1 2

I 1902

33,180 10

11,499 19 3

Outturn for year .

J 1903
'• } 1904

28,318 0
37,882 10

9,644 16 1
13,958 12 1

| li»05

47,411 0

17,741 4 0

U906

46,877 10

14,487 8 0

Besides this Barakar pig, the only iron produced in the province is
an insignificant quantity produced in the small native furnaces of baked
clay in Orissa, Chota Nagpur and the Sonthal Parganas.

The production of iron per head of the population is about 1'5 Ibs.

The consumption of iron and steel cannot be obtained very easily.
We may form an estimate of the quantity, however, by considering it as
made up of the production in the province plus the imports of iron and
steel of all kinds minus the exports of iron and steel of all kinds. The
imports and exports of Bengal may be obtained from " Reports on Trade
carried by Rail and River in Bengal " and from the " Annual Statements
of the Trade and Navigation of British India."

TABLE V. — Imports into Bengal, 1900-1.

[Compiled from Beport on Trade carried by Bail and Biver in Bengal'
1900-1. Does not include stores imported by Government for Bengal].

ARTICLES.

Quantity.

Cost.

Iron and Steel —

Mds.

Es.

Cast ... ... ...

84,045

2,44,970

TJn wrought

17,986

39,578

Wrought ... ...

9,56,911

64,39,711

Manufactures ...

2,61,100

22,19,816

Bailway plant and rolling stock-

Locomotive engines ...

58,368

15,80,501

Carriages and trucks

2,60,235

36,28,262

Steel rails and fish plates

7,09,326

28,35,961

Sleepers and keys of steel and cast
iron.

Total

12,437

42,493

23,60,408

1,70,31,292

( 15 )

TABLE VI. — Imports into Bengal, 1900-1.
(Stores imported by Government for Bengal.)

[Compiled from Annual Statement of the Trade and Navigation of British

India, 1901, Table 84.]

ARTICLES.

Quantity.

Value.

CwtB.

Efc

lard ware and cutlery ...

• • •

9,05,681

Machinery and mill-work ...

* • •

5,00,410

jon (of all sorts)

205,595

16,13,589

steel (of all sorts)

44,171

4,11,629

Railway plant and rolling stock ...

• • •

1,30,56,557

Total

• • •

1,64,87,866

The quantities in cwts of certain of the Government stores have not
been returned, but the total may be estimated as 21,82,682 maunds
making the total imports for Bengal (including Government stores) 45,43 090
maunds or 166,418 tons of the value of Rs. 3,35,19,158.

TABLK VII. — Exports from Bengal, 1900-1.

[Compiled from Eeport on Trade carried by Bail and fiirer in Bengal,

1800-1.]

ARTICLES.

Quantity.

Cost.

Iron and Steel —

Mds.

Es.

Cast ... .... ...

2,02,529

5,50,210

Unwrought

1,15,418

2,30,836

Wrought

1,20,719

8,21,930

Manufactures

41,658

3,51,312

Railway plant and rolling stock —
Locomotive engines

1,683

62,956

Carriages and trucks

8,394

1,12,707

Steel rails and fish plates

49,169

1,91,774

Sleepers and keys of steel and cast
iron.

Total

61,467

1,93,952

6,01,037

25,15,727

The total exports for Bengal 6,01,037 maunds or 81,016 tons of the value
of Rs. 85,15,727.

The total CONSUMPTION of iron and steel is therefore estimated as 195 396
tons in all or 5'8 Ids. per head of the population.

III.— COMPARISON OP THE IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRF OP BENGAL WITH

THAT OP ENGLAND AND WALES.

It has proved interesting to institute a comparison between Bengal
and England and Wales as to (i) number of workers in iron and steel
per 10,000 of the population ; (ii) production of iron per head of the popula-
tion ; (in) consumption of iron per head of the population : —

(i) The number of workers in iron and steel in England and Wales
in 1901 has been obtained from Parliamentary Papers, Accounts and
Papers 49, Population (England and Wales), Census 1901, Summary Tables,
Table XXXV, England and Wales, Occupation of males and females aged
10 years and upwards. A summary of this table is given alongside ,of a
corresponding summary from the Bengal Census, and will be useful to
show how far it has been possible to compare the different groups in the
Occupation Tables of the two Census Reports given for Bengal and for
England and Wales respectively.

TABLE VIII. — Number of persons occupied in iron and. steel
industry. A comparison of Bengal with England and
Wales in 1901.

OCCUPATION.

Bengal
(British terri-
tories).

England and
Wales.

Total population ...

74,744,866

32,527,843

Workers in iron foundries ...

1,950

100,556

Iron smelters ...

849

85,907 (a)

Workers in iron and hardware

82,539(6)

249,673(c)

Sellers of iron and hardware

3,468

28,206

Arms and ammunition

3,417 (d)

21,566(d)

Workers in machinery and engineer-

6,729

ing workshops.

Plough and agricultural implement-
makers.

7,109

> 409,663(e)

Mechanics

4,285

Workers in dockyards ...

5,861

Railway mechanics and workers in

3,695

23,299(0

railway and tramway plant

factories.

Total workers in iron and steel and

119,902

918,870

machinery.

Number of workers in iron, steel

15-9

282-5

and machinery per 10,000 of

population.

fa) Blast furnaces, puddling and rolling and steel smelting and founding.

(b) Includes lock-makers.

(c) Includes blacksmiths, strikers, tools, nails, bolts, rivets, &c., anchor chain,
stoves, bedsteads, lock and key-makers and iron-workers (undefined).

(d) It was found impossible to properly separate the manufacturers of explosives
only from the manufacturers of ammunition, e.g., shells involving work in steel ; and
for purposes of more exact comparison all workers in arms and ammunition have been
included.

(«) Includes pattern-makers, millwrights, fitters and turners, metal machinist!,
boiler-makers, other engine and machine-makers, ship-plate rivetters, other workers
in iron shops, moior and cycle manufacturers.

( /} Railway coach and wagon-makers.

(ii) The production of iron per head of the population for England
and Wales in 1901 has been obtained from Parliamentary Papers,
Accounts and Papers 32, year 1903, Abstract of Labour Statistics of United
Kingdom for year 1902-03, page 19. The total production of iron
(pig-iron) in England and Wales for the year 1901 is given as 6,792,000
tons. This reckoned per head of the population is 467 Ibs For the
United Kingdom the corresponding figure is 426 (op. cit., British and
Foreign Trade, p. 369).

(iii) The consumption of iron (pig-iron) per head of the population
for England and Wales in 1901 is not available The corresponding figure
for the United Kingdom is 375 Ibs. (op. cit., British and Foreign Trade,
p. 369). The results of this comparison are here summarized: —

TABLE IX

Number of workers in iron and
steel and machinery per lO.OoC
of the population.

Bengal
(British
territory).

England
and
Wales.

United
Kingdom.

J5'9

282-5

...(a)

Production of ir m (pig-iron) per
head of the population in Ibs.

1-5

467

426

Consumption of iron or steel per
head of population in Ibs.

5-8

«•(»)

375

(a) Corresponding Cg-jre for failed Kingdom not anilable.
(ft) Ditto for England and Walei not araiUWa.

The percentage number of workers of iron and steel and the produc-
tion and consumption of these metals in a country may be taken as a
measure of the prosperity and civilisation of that country, and the foregoing
figures show in a most striking manner the backward state of the Province of
Bengal when judged by European standards. Even the least advanced of
European countries compare very favourably with Bengal in this respect,
e.g., the consumption of iron and steel in Russia is about 17 Ibs. per head
of the population. On the other hand the iron and steel trade of Bengal
compares very favourably with that of any other province in India and with
India as a whole. It is the only province in which iron is produced except
in insignificant quantities, its engineering firms are the most important in
India, and its imports of iron and steel form a very considerable part of
the total imports of these metals into British India. It takes about
one-half of the total imports of Railway plant and rolling stock and
about one-seventh of the total imports of iron and steel in other forms.

IV. — PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY OF THE WORKKES IN IRON AND STEEL IN

BENGAL.

An inspection of the workers in this industry in Bengal produces
in one the strongest conviction of the futility of the native blacksmith

( 18 )

working on a small scale in hie own home, and of the insignificance of the
quantity of material he handles. The gain to the country which would
resuft by his employment in factories under European control would be
immense. For under these conditions his productiveness is enormously
increased and approaches to that of a European worker. It is, however,
very difficult to get any figures which will illustrate the point. A
rough estimate can perhaps be formed of the amount of imported material
whic'h is taken 'by the native blacksmiths, as distinct from the large
firms controlled by Europeans, from an examination of a somewhat detailed

table of imports, slich as Table X.

. • j"

TABLE X— Showing imports of iron, and ( steel, etc., into
Bengal, 1900-1.

[Compiled from General Table No. 24 of Annual Statement of Trade and
Navigation of British India, 1901-1.]

ARTICLES.

Quantity.

Value.

Cwt.

Bs.

Total hardware and cutlery, includ-

• • •

77,42,066

ing plated ware.

Iron —

Old, for remanufaoturing

1,419

3,583

Oast (pig) '

109,912

3,81j818

Wrought—

Anchors, cables, kentledge ...

6,696

1,04,478

Angle, bolt and rod

Ho,585

9,76,295

Bar

155,565

10,78,362

Beams, pillars, girders and

10,507

1,11,160"

bridge-work.

Hoop

36,366

3,27,158

Nails, screws, rivets and

64,577

»,51,784

washers.

Pipes and tubes

53,077

7,42,009

Bice-bowls

64,762

6,74,627

Sheets arid plates, galvanized
Sheets and .plate§, tinned .'...'

672,897
108,987

71,60,006
13,53,338

Sheets and plates, not eral-
Vftnked Or tinned.

115,747

8,48,308

Wire

18,663

2,36,174

Other manufactures

56,647

8,88,050

Steel-

Angle, channel and spring

57,551

4,12,053

Bars

261,518

17,98,411

Beams, piJlars, girders and bridge-

187,240

11,6-3,024 .

work. -••'" '; ';

Cast - ...

9,333

1,29,208

Hoop

62,963

5,08,604

Plates and sheets

236,849

20,97,657

Other aorta

113,410

9,76,737

Machinery and mill-work (exclu-

• ••

1,01,81,087

ding railway locomotives).

Railway plant and rolling stock —
Carriages, trucks, and parts

• * *

20,11,988

thereof"

Locomotive engines, tenders and

• • •

8,31,149

parts thereof.

Materials for construction —

Bails and fish-plates of steel and

206,950

10,40,527

iron.

Sleepers and keys of steel and

21,352

1,08,342

iron..

( 19 )

If we assume that all the small sections, bars, rods, hoop, plates and
sheets of iron and steel are taken by the smaller blacksmiths, we shall
overestimate the amount of raw material handled by them, for we know
that we have taken into account all the material they can use and that
in reality a very considerable proportion of the material here specified is
taken by the large engineering firms. On this assumption, the total atnount
of raw material taken by this class of workers in 1900-1 is 1,763,704
cwts. of the value of Rs. 1,54,32,928. We may estimate their total number
as 90,380, and this gives us the amount of raw material consumed per head per
annwn ty tie workers in iron and steel on a small scale as 19'5 cwii. of a
value of Rs. 170. This is an outside limit, and probably half this quantity
would be nearer the truth.

We shall not be far wrong if we reckon that in large engineering
works in Bengal, the value of raw material handled in a year by each
worker runs from Re. 600 to Rs. 1,000 ; and thus we see that the
efficiency of a worker in a factory is, at least, six times that of the worker
on a small scale in his own house.

V. — STATISTICS OF THE INDUSTKY SINCE 1901.

Complete statistics cannot be obtained for years subsequent to 1901.
Trade returns are available, but it appeared that a detailed discussion <rf
the incomplete statistical data available would not give any adequate
return. The chief feature has been the growth of engineering firms and
factories. The rough figures with which I have been supplied show a
very large increase in the number of hands employed in such works
since the last census was token.

CHAPTER III.

PRODUCTION OP IEON AND STEEL BY INDIGENOUS METHODS.

IT has already been mentioned in the preceding chapter that the pro

duction of iron by the indigenous method is now

.Iron-smelting in the first half A- n ±: i • r> i i*n ^i • j

of the 19th century. practically extinct in Bengal. When the industry

was in its most flourishing condition and what

was the total outturn of iron for the province at this period we have no
means of ascertaining. Before the 19th century we have no descriptions
of the processes employed. Probably the first description on record is to
be found in "the History, Antiquities, Topography and Statistics of
Eastern India," compiled from the Survey Reports of Dr. Francis Buchanan,
1807 — 1813. Here a detailed account is given of the processes of iron-
smelting as carried out by the Kols of the Bhagalpur district. In the
forties and fifties a number of notes and papers were contributed to the
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal on the methods employed in
various parts of the province. Kittoe in 1839 wrote on smelting in the
Talcheer, Ungool and Dhenkennal States of Orissa (J. As. S. B., Vol. viii,
p. 144) ; Babington in 1843 sent to the Asiatic Society a clay model
of the smelting furnaces as used at the Kutterbagga mines, 20 miles
north-east of Sambalpur (vide J. As. S. B., Vol. xii, p. 164) ; Welby
Jackson in 1845 visited the Birbhum district and contributed to the Journal
of the Society a short description of the smelting in this district with an
opinion as to the quality of the iron produced (J. As. S. B., Vol. xiv,
p. 754); and in 1854 Dr. Oldham communicated to the Society a note on
the processes employed in the Rajmahal Hills (J. As. S. B., Vol. xxiii,
p. 279). About this time the Court of Directors of the East India
Company made some enquiries as to the mineral resources of the province.
Dr. Oldham was asked to report on the Birbhum district (Selections from
the Records of the Bengal Government, viii, 1853). And a report was
also obtained of the iron smelting at Sambalpur (Dr. J. Shortt —Selections
from the Records of the Bengal Government, Vol. xxiii, p. 184, 1855).
From these papers and reports we may gather that in the first half of the
19th century, iron smelting was carried on in Orissa, Sambalpur and the
Bhagalpur districts by almost identical methods. The furnace employed
was built of clay and was almost cylindrical, standing from three to four
feet high with an external diameter of two to two and a half feet at
the top and somewhat wider at the bottom, and an internal diameter of
only a few inches at the top, increasing to about a foot at the bottom.
A fire-clay pipe passing through the wall at the bottom served as a tuyere
and the blast was supplied from a couple of bellows of a peculiar pattern
which were worked by a man standing with one foot on each of the bellows
and performing a treading action. The construction of this form of
bellows will be described in detail later. The furnace was fed with a
mixture of charcoal and ore and finally the iron was obtained at the
bottom of the furnace as a semifused mass, which was extracted and
refined by heating several times at an ordinary forge and hammering whilst
hot to force out the slag contained in its pores. We learn that about 300
tons of iron per annum were produced in the Bhagalpur district, but no

( 21 )

estimates are given of the production in Orissa and Sambalpur. The
iron smelting at Birbhum differed from the above, the chief difference
consisting in the much larger size of the furnaces. Each furnace produced
a mass of iron weighing 25 maunds, and Dr. Oldham estimated the total
production of the district as 2,380 tons of crude iron per annum.

It was no doubt on account of the larger scale on which the smelting
was conducted at Birbhum that the attention of Europeans was especially
directed to this district. Soon after Dr. Oldham's visit in 1852 a Calcutta
firm, Messrs. Mackay & Co., started the smelting of iron in this district
and erected for this purpose a furnace and plant on European lines. No
doubt this furnace attracted the majority of the men who had formerly
smelted iron by their own method ; and when some twenty years later
this enterprise was abandoned, the smelting of iron in the district appears
to have absolutely ceased. Some drawings by Dr. Oldham of the native
furnaces used in the Birbhum district have been reproduced in the Memoirs
of the Geological Survey of India [Vol. xiii, Part 2, page 87]. The
furnaces were about 7 or 8 feet high and 5 feet across. Their cross-section
was not circular but D-shaped, the flat side being the front and at this
side the blast was introduced through the tuyeres. The bellows were of
much the same pattern as in the other districts but larger, and several
men were required to work them. The furnaces were built in a furnace-
house and there was a platform round the furnaces on which was placed,
the fuel and ore and on this stood the workman who fed the furnaces
with these materials. The forges at which the crude iron was refined by
re-heating and hammering were necessarily large, as the mass of iron to
be handled was large. Drawings of these forges were also made by Dr.
Oldham. They have been described as furnaces, but from the drawings
it would appear that they are merely forges with the back of the hearth
built up in rather curious shapes.

In the seventies the mineral resources of the province were re-examined

by the Geological Survey, and at this period we

Iron smelting in the second- , . , . j • , • . ,.

half of the nineteenth century. have a fresh. cr°P of descriptions of the native

processes of iron smelting [vide Mem. G. S. I.,

Vol. xi, 1874, Geology of Darjeeling District, by F. R. Mallet ; Records
G. S. I., Vol. viii, part 4, page 120, The Raijarh and Hinjir Coal-field
(Sambalpur), by V. Ball, 1875; Mem. G. S. I., Vol. xiii, part 2, page 87,
Geology of the Rajmahal Hills by V. Ball, 1877]. A model of the smelt-
ing furnaces used in Chota Nagpur was sent to the London International
Exhibition of 1874. Shortly after the appearance of the last of the
memoirs above mentioned (in 1881), the third volume of " A Manual of the
Geology of India," dealing with economic geology, was published. This
volume contains a useful summary of the papers hitherto published on the
subject of iron smelting in Bengal, and in addition the author (Mr. V.
Ball) describes in detail the furnaces and processes used by the Agariahs
in the Palamau subdivision of the Lohardaga district in Chota Nagpur.
His description is illustrated by a photograph showing the smelting at
work.

Since this date no further accounts of native smelting have been pub-
lished with the exception of a paper in "The Jndian Import ard Export
Trades Journal" for December 1900, which apparently gives a description

( 22 )

applicable either to the furnaces of Bengal or to those of the Central
Provinces.

The district reports (1907) show that the smelting of iron from its

ores is still carried on to a considerable extent

Iron smelting i,, 1907 Jn gambalpur and to gome extent in 8ome of

the Tributary States neighbouring on the district of Cuttack; the industry
is almost extinct in Chota Nagpur and in the Sonthal Parganas, but is
mentioned in the reports. In Birbhum there is no longer any smelting
whatever, and no mention of smelting is made in any of the reports from
the Bhagalpur Division.

I had the opportunity of watching (on the 18th April 1907) the process
carried out by the Kols in the jungle at a short distance from Dumka in the
Southal Parganas. It scarcely differed from any of the processes which
have been in vogue for the whole of the last century in Sambalpur, Orissa,
Chota Nagpur and the Rajmehal Hills. The furnace was built on a
small hill under the shade of a banyan tree. It was made of clay and
carefully dried before use. In form it was almost cylindrical, height 34
inches, outside diameter 26 inches at the bottom, 22 inches at the top,
inside diameter at the hearth about 1 foot, at the top 5 inches. On one
side a semicircular hole, 1 foot across, was made in the bottom of the
wall of the furnace. Into this hole the tuyere was placed resting on a
brick, the tuyere consisting of an already baked fire-clay tube 7 inches in
length, about 1 inch across at the wider end and slightly conical. The
tuyere was then surrounded by a mass of moist sandy clay, the hole in
the wall being entirely filled up with this material. The bellows were then
put in place. Each bellows consisted of a short cylindrical piece of wood
16 inches in diameter and 5 inches high, hollowed out from the top to
the form of a pill-box, with a goat-skin tied over the mouth. Into the
side of the cylinder was fitted a bamboo tube 3 feet in length and fitted at
its further end with a small iron tube as a nozzle. Two such bellows were
put in place with the iron nozzles pushed into the tuyere of the furnace
and the bodies of the bellows close together so that the bamboo tubes
were as near in line as possible with the tuyere. In the ground on each
side of the furnace a pliant stake 8 or 9 feet in length had been driven.
These were now bent over towards the bellows and to the stake on the
left-hand side was fastened a string which was attached to the goat skin
of the left-hand bellows so that the stake, trying to spring back into place,
pulled up the skin on the bellows. The stake on the right-hand side was
similarly attached to the right-hand bellows. The skins each had a
perforation. Then a man standing on the bellows, with one foot on each,
depressed the right-hand stake and at the same moment closed the perfora-
tion in the skin of the right-hand bellows with his foot and by means of
his weight drove the air from the bellows into the furncce. He then leant
over to the left and repeating the operations on the left-hand bellows
sent a blast from the left-hand pipe into the furnace ; and thus alternately
he threw his weight from the right to the left in a series of operations
resembling a man on the tread-mill and gave a fairly steady blast into
the furnace. Plate VI, Fig. 1, is a photograph of the furnace here
described, and Fig. 2 of the same plate is a diagram to show the various
parts more clearly. The skins were from time to time sprinkled with water.

( 23 )

The furnace was filled with charcoal (the charcoal used was of sal wood,
having been burnt in a hemispherical pit in the ground) and lighted and
the blast started. At this time two dabs of vermillion were made on the
wall of the furnace just above the hearth, apparently invoking the blessing
of the gods on the smelting. Then the charcoal and ore were supplied
from the top of the furnace in the proportion of one skip of charcoal
to one measure of ore (the measure consisting of a broken earthen water-
pot), the blast was steadily maintained and fresh fuel and ore were added
as the previous supply gradually worked down into the furnace. The ore
employed was a fairly pure haematite in small nodules ehowing a crystalline
fracture. These nodules were crushed to a fine powder before use by
an old lady belonging to the family of smelters. Carbon monoxide burnt
with a blue flame at the mouth of the f urnace and that a white heat
was attained within the furnace could be seen by peering down the tuyere.
After about half an hour a thin stick was pushed into the moist sandy clay
wall surrounding the tuyere, and from the hole thus made a small quantity
of slag poured out and solidified. Tappings of slag were made about
every half hour. The slag was almost black and vitreous and on- cooling"
generally splintered into a. thousand pieces. The blast was continued' until
no more fuel remained, and, in all, probably 1 maund of charcoal and
20 seers of ore were used. This occupied from three to four hours. The
blast was continued some time after all the material had disappeared from
the top of the furnace ; then the tuyere was removed, the sand, etc.,
hrushed away from the hearth, the charcoals raked out from the furnace
and quenched, and ultimately the mass of semi-fused iron was dragged
out by tongs with long wooden handles, dragged on to the grass and very
gently hammered to express some of the slag. Care was taken not to
hammer out too much of the slag as the iron is sold by weight. The
iron obtained weighed between 6 and 7 seers. The smelters said that this
kutcha iron sold at 20 — 25 seers for the rupee, so that the product of their
labours was valued at 4 annas.- They said that on being refined this
would yield half its weight of pvcca iron.

With regard to the. rationale of the -smelting operation, from the
appearance of the slag, one would pronounce it to be chiefly ferrous
silicate Fe3 Si04> and , conclude that part of the ferric oxide, being
reduced to ferrous oxide, acts as a base and combines with and removes
the silica present . in the ore as impurity. Thus the process is very
wasteful and cannot give a good yield, but at the same time by using
only the pure wood charcoal and adding no flux, the iron produced is
almost sure to be of Mgh quality, as. there is no risk of introducing the-
objectionable elements, sulphur and phosphorus, along with fuel or flux. It
would, however, be quite ; worth while to confirm this view of the composi-
tion of the slag> by chemical analysis as it appears that no satisfactory
analysis,, has ever . been made of the slag from an indigenous smelting
furnace in Bengal, Dr. Oldham (Mem. G. S. I., Vol. I, 1859) discussed
the qnestion, but admitted that no satisfactory analysis had been made. He
wrote: " Unfortunately there have been no analyses of such products in this
country sufficiently detailed to enable a sound opinion to be formed of
thq real composition of such slags." A rude analysis of slags resulting
from similar processes, operating on very .similar, though not quite so

( 24 )

siliceous, ores in Birbhum gave to Dr. McNamara 55 per cent, of iron
in the slag with nearly 33 per cent, of siliceous matter together with
a proportion of lime.

Two specimens of slag were tested, and the results were —

Iron.

Lime.

Residue,
chiefly
siliceous

No. 1. — From sandstone ore ...

matter.

55-45

6-18

38-37

„ 2.— From haematite ore

5400

8-43

37-57

and since that time no analyses of such slags appear to have been recorded.

As to the quality of the iron produced, the mass of iron on being

cut with a cold chisel was seen to consist of

Character of the metal pro- ft considerable crust of brittle material,

duced by native smelting pro- .

ce*aei in Bengal. apparently almost entirely slag with an exceed-

ingly slender mesh- work of iron, and an inner

portion of tough, malleable iron. The brittle outer portion contained so
little iron that it could not be worked up at the forge. The inner
portion, however, was worked with great ease at the forge and welded
perfectly, behaving as charcoal iron of the best quality.

In fact in all cases which have been observed in Bengal the product
of the smelting has been soft iron. Thus of the iron produced at Birbhum,
Dr. Oldham wrote : " The quality of the Birbhum iron, owing to the
processes adopted and to its being smelted entirely • with charcoal, is essen-
tially different from that of English iron, and though not so valuable for
the purposes above alluded to, such as railway works, is more so for other
work in which toughness and malleability combined with softness are
required." The same geologist also described the iron produced in Orissa
as " of excellent quality and highly prized for its tenacity. It is, in fact,
like most of the iron produced by the native furnaces in India (when
cleaned), charcoal iron of the best quality." It is true that the crude iron
has sometimes been described as brittle ; thus Kittoe said of the iron
produced in Orissa : " Some of the iron is of a superior and malleable
quality, but much of it is very coarse-grained and brittle." This is
explained by the remark of Dr. Oldham : " The iron thus produced by
the first process has never been thoroughly fused. It is brittle, owing
chiefly to the impurities mixed with it ; but these by the continued exposure
to the direct action of the blast in the open furnace in which it is cleaned
are either melted or burnt out and the repeated hammerings remove the
impurities." This writer left the point somewhat vague as to whether the
impurities causing the brittleness of the crude iron were melted out or
burnt out in the refining. The brittleness is, however, quite sufficiently
explained by the large amount of slag mechanically dispersed throughout
the mass of the crude iron, and it is unnecessary to suppose that the
crude iron contains any impurities (such as carbon) which must be burnt
out. If an attempt were made to uphold such an hypothesis, it would be
difficult to explain the ease with which practically all the carbon can be

( 25 )

removed during the refining process, and in the sample which I have
myself examined I noticed that the inner core of the crude iron which was
comparatively free from slag was tough and malleable before it was sub-
jected to any refining process.

In the Geology of India, Vol. Ill, page 340, Mr. Ball makes a
remark which appears to me distinctly misleading. He says: " Lastly, it is
distinctly stated that in the large furnaces in Birbhum the iron was
produced in a fluid condition and was run into pigs, which were subse-
quently converted in open hearths into malleable iron." But by carefully
consulting all references to the Birbhum native smelting processes, I can
find no such statement : in fact Welby Jackson remarked that the iron was
taken out in a mass from the bottom of the furnace. It is true that the
furnaces set up at Birbhum by Messrs Mackay & Co., of Calcutta, produced
iron which was poured into pigs, but these furnaces were a European
concern European using methods.

There is, in fact, no recorded observation of the manufacture in
Bengal by native methods either of cast iron or of steel. As to whether
cast iron was ever produced by native methods in this province, I am not
certain ; but there appears to be no reason to doubt that steel was produced
here, though why the art has been so completely lost is difficult to under-
stand. It is not probable that the large quantities of steel required to make
swords and spears for the rank and file of the large armies maintained in
Bengal from 1500 onwards would all be imported. Mr. Mallet in describ-
ing the Geology of the Darjeeling district (Mem. G. S. I., Vol. xi,
pt. I, 1874), mentions the smelting of iron at Sikhbar, a place to the
east of the Tista, 5 miles south-east of Kalimpoug. He says : " The
micaceous haematite is not used as it is said to yield a soft iron unsuited
to the manufacture of knives. The magnetite is well suited to native
furnaces. The Kamis assert that it yields a steely iron peculiarly well
suited for making kukris and flaws." At the present day the Jcukris obtainable
in Darjeeling which come from Nepal are said to be made of steel
manufactured in Nepal ; and a Kami in Darjeeling who made kukris
assured me that for work of the highest class he only used steel which
was brought from Nepal. It does not appear improbable that at the
time of Mr. Mallet's visit a small quantity of steel was made at Sikhbar
by the Nepalese Kamis according to methods introduced from Nepal.

In the district report from the Sonthal Parganas, the manufacture
of steel in this district in former times is spoken of as a well-known
fact : " The manufacture of steel also has died 'out owing to the disuse
of weapons among the Sonthals and the introduction of imported steel.
The famous Sonthali bullet-proof shields can no longer be manufactured."

In the Rajmahal Hills and the Sonthal Parganas, the iron-smelter?
On the people engaged in beloilg to the **&* of &<>b. (The man shown
smelting (according to indi- in Plate VI, Fig. 1, is a Kol.} In Chota
genous methods) in Bengal. Nagpur also a few Koh are occupied in the
smelting. The exact relationships and history of the Kols it is difficult
to give. They are undoubtedly an aboriginal tribe and closely related to
the Sonthalis. According to some authorities the term Eol or Kolarian
may be applied to quite a number of tribes in Chota Nagpur and the
Rajmahal Hills, including the Mundas, the Eos or Fighting Kols, the

( 26 )

Bhumij Kok and perhaps the Sonthalis. Their language has affinities to
Canarese and Tamil, as also has the Sonthali dialect. In facial appearance
the Kols and Sonthalis are very similar. In the Sonthal Parganas at the
present day the Kol smelters appear to be rather looked down upon by
the Sonthalis, who will not work in iron. The smelters in this district
in fact appear to possess little spirit. They were described by Francis
Buchanan in 1807 as very ignorant timid creatures. Whether the tionthali
looks down upon all Kols, or only considers himself superior to the Kol
smelters, I cannot say, but according to an old fable the boot would
appear to be on the other foot. This fable relates the origin of the
different races. Sing Bonga, or God, created a boy and a girl who grew
up to be man and woman, and some time after they had lived together
and known each other, Sing Bonga came down and asked them what
progeny they had; they said unto him, "Grandfather, we have twelve
sons and twelve daughters. " These twenty-four lifted up their voices and
said, " Great grandfather, how can we brothers and sisters all live
together?" Sing Bonga said, "Go you and make preparations and make
a great feast, rice and buffaloe's flesh, and bullock's flesh, goats, sheep,
pigs and fowls of the air, and vegetables ;" and they did so, and when
the feast was prepared Sing Bonga said, " Take ye two by two, man
and woman, that which shall please you most, and that shall ye have
for share, to eat all the days of your life, apart from the rest, so that
none shall touch his brother's share." And so when the feast was prepared,
the first pair and the second pair took buffaloe's and bullock's flesh,
even as much as they could carry, and these became the Kol and Bhumij
race ; then a pair took the rice ; and other pairs, male and female, rice
and vegetables, and these became Brahmins, Rajputs, Chuttiies and other
Hindus ; and others took away the goat's flesh and fish, and became other
kinds of Hindus ; the Bhooians took the shell-fish. Lastly, when nothing
was left but the pig's flesh, came two pairs and took it away, and these
are Sonthals and Koormees to this day ; and when all the feast was cleared
away there remained one pair who had nothing, and to them the Kols
gave up their share and these are the Ghassees to this hour.

Another story related by the Mundas appears to indicate at the same
time the close relationship between the Mundas and the Kol smelters
and the antiquity of the smelting industry among these tribes. It is
a curious version of the Fall of the Angels. Once upon a time, heaven
was peopled by a race of divinities who were attendant on Sing Bonga.
But one day they happened to come across a mirror, and seeing their
faces for the first time found they were made in God's image. Inflated
with pride at this newly discovered knowledge they refused further
service, declaring themselves the equal of God himself. They were
promptly expelled from heaven and cast into the lower world known to
the Mundas as Terasi Pirhi Ekasibasi. In these lower regions they came
across large quantities of iron ore and at once made furnaces and
started work smelting it .... (for the completion of the story see
"Chota Nagpur" by F. B. Bradley-Birt).

There is no mention of any particular tribe being employed in the
smelting industry in Sambalpur and Orissa, although it has been stated
that the smelters are a distinct class and live in separate villages. They

( 27 )

are undoubtedly of Dravidian origin and probably closely related to the
Koh of Chota Nagpur and the Sonthal Parganas.

Although, as already stated, a few Koh in Chota Nagpur are
employed in smelting, the chief workers in this industry in this division
are the Agariahs and the Lohariahs. The Agariahs are otherwise .called
Agariaa, Aguriahs, 4gorias, Apiyas and Asurs. These people live mainly
in the upper valleys of the Damuda and Karampura, whilst the surrounding
uplands are occupied by Kols and Uraons and the lower valleys of the
rivers by Bengalis, They are not related to the Dravidian aboriginal
tribes and are probably of Aryan (Hindu) stock. They are miserably
poor and their condition is altogether most wretched. They are depen-
dent on the Bengali money-dealers for advances to enable them to follow
their calling and are thus virtually the slaves of these capitalists. The
Agariahs smelt only the crude iron, and this is passed on to the Lohariahs
to be refined and made ready for the blacksmith's use. The origin of
the name Agariah is somewhat obscure. According to one theory, Ag =
fire, Aguri = firemen. According to a second it is a term of reproach
used by the Hindus (A = a negative particle, gura = gods), whilst a
third theory makes the name almost a term of admiration given by the
non-Hindu tribes in consequence of the skill of the Agariahs at their
trade (Asura a name for God).

The Lohariahs are also a very low class of Hindus.

The workers at Birbhum were quite different from the smelters
in the neighbouring Rajmahal Hills, for Dr. Oldham tells us the two
operations of smelting and refining were carried on by two totally
different sets of people and, what is curious, by people of different
religions, those who reduced the ore in the first instance being invariably
Mussulmans and the refiners invariably Hindus.

CHAPTER IV.

THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH AND HIS METHODS.
THE typical blacksmith in Bengal is a Hindu of the kamar, harmnkar

or lohar caste, the caste for which blacksmith's
work is the traditional occupation. The figures

which have already been given in Chapter II show the preponderance
of the kamar caste over all others in the blacksmith trade. The special
caste of kamar or lohar is not mentioned in Manu's Code. At this time
there were only four proper castes, — the Brahmins, the Kshatriyas or
military class, the Veisyas or merchants and the servile class of Sudr s.
The Sudr a, whose duty was primarily to serve the other classes, might, if
other employments failed him, subsist by handicrafts. Besides the four
proper classes, a long list of names is given in the Code for the progeny
of alliances of one caste with another, or of one of a pure caste with one
of a mixed caste, and in many cases artisan employments of definite
kinds are allotted to the mixed castes; but it is curious that such an
important trade as the blacksmith's is not specifically mentioned. In
Bengal at the present time the Baidyas or medical caste come immediately
below the Brahmins, then the Rdyasthas or writer caste, and after these
come nine divisions called the Nobo Sak, i.e., the gopa or cowherd, the
mali or gardener, the taili or oilman, the iantri or weaver, the modaka
or confectioner, the varaji or betel cultivator, the kulala or potter, the
karmakdra or smith, and the napita or barber. From these nine castes
a Brahmin can accept water. Below these come numerous castes, such
as the kaivartara or fisherman, sauvarnabanij or goldsmith, etc., from
whose hands the Brahmin cannot take water. The transition from the
old caste system of Manu's time to the present one has been gradual,
and it is impossible to say when the caste of kamar was first definitely
formed and how it is related to the castes of Manu's time. The
probability is that the kamars trace their descent from one of the mixed
classes, though there is the other possibility that they may be pure
Sudras. The family names most common among the kamars of Bengal
proper are Pal, De, Das and Dutt. In Bihar the term I har is more
frequently used than kamar. The district report from Khulna says that
the kamars (blacksmiths) are divided into four classes, viz., Jasmry, Chiglai,
Saptagain and Mamdobeday.

Nowadays there are Hindus of many other castes who have taken up
blacksmith's work, e.g., milkmen and carpenters, and the district report from
Burdwan mentions that in the cutlers' shops of that district Brahma ns and
Kayasths even may be seen at work grinding and polishing knives and scissors.

In Bengal there is not that clear distinction between the castes
which may be found in other parts of India, and it would be very
difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish a kamar or lohar from his facial
characteristics. The men shown in Plate VII, Fig. 1, Plate VIII,
Fig. 1, and Plate IX, Fig. 1, are typical lohar s and kamars.

The district report from Buidwan remarks that the trade of a black-
smith or cutler is certainly unhealthy; that the blacksmith lacks the brawny
arms and massive chesi of a typical smith, is light of build and pale

( 29 )

of complexion, his face bearing traces of organic weakness. These rem ark»
are equally true of the blacksmith throughout the whole of Bengal.

It is very rare to find a Muhammadan blacksmith in any part of
the present Province of Bengal. There are many Muhammadans employed
in the large engineering firms of Calcutta ; and an industry which it is
difficult to class, viz., the small industry which has recently sprung up
for the manufacture of steel trunks, appears to owe its birth in Patna
to Muhammadaus from Allahabad. In the course of a tour over a con-
siderable part of Bengal I made constant enquiries for Muhammadans
carrying on the ordinary work of village blacksmith, and only in
Murshidabad was I able to find a single Muhammadan blacksmith and his
sons. This man had come in his youth from the Punjab or the United
Provinces with a regiment which had been stationed at Berhampore.

In the Darjeeeling district are to be found Nepalese blacksmiths.
They are called kamis and form one of the lower castes of Nepalese.

The most common type of blacksmith— the man who has not special-
ised in any branch of his trade — requires next
to no tools or outfit. He has his hearth, and

bellows to supply a blast to the fire, and he has an anvil, a few pairs
of tongs and a few hammers. A cold chisel may complete his most
slender equipment. His work is entirely carried on in a small shanty
not more than 10 feet by 10 feet. The hearth (hafar) is generally on
a level with the floor of the shanty. At the back of it there is built
a small wall of mud, generally from 6 inches to 1 foot high and from
1 to 11 feet long. Through this wall or slightly sunk in the ground
below it, there passes an iron pipe carrying the blast from the bellows.
The bellows (bhatfti, bhanti) are like magnified English kitchen-bellows
The upper board is fixed whilst the lower board is moved up and down
by means of a wire, chain or rope which is fixed to one end of a lever
The fulcrum of the lever is provided by a horizontal bar either supported
by two upright posts or by one post on the one side and the wall of
the shanty on the other. The other end of the lever comes almost over the
hearth and to it is attached a chain. The blacksmith squatting by the
hearth and handling the piece of iron in the fire with a pair of tongs
(saursi saneso) with the one hand, with the other pulls the chain and
works the bellows. When the piece of iron has been sufficiently heated
it is withdrawn by the tongs from the fire and hammered into shape at
the anvil (nihay, lehai, lehi). The anvil is frequently of English pattern
and obtained from Calcutta (imported). Sometimes an old piece of steel
rail serves as a small anvil. The hamnlers used are of various shapes
and known as martol, hathauri or hathuli.

The construction of the hearth varies a little within the limits of the
province. Sometimes besides the wall of mud already mentioned at the
back of the hearth there may also be built another small wall running
parallel to this at the front, or again these walls may be built of loosely
piled bricks (as at Burdwan) and be as much as li or 2 feet high. Again
the whole hearth may be raised to a height of 1 or 2 feet and the raised
hearth may or may not be bounded by higher walls. Plate VII, Fig
1, shows a blacksmith's shop of the simplest type. In this case 'a few
loose bricks are piled on either side of the hearth. Undoubtedly the neatest

( 30 )

arrangement which I have seen in Bengal was at Dubrajpur in the Birbhum
district (Plate VII, Fig. 2). Here a considerable part of the floor of
the smithy was raised to a height of 1 or 1^ feet, the raised platform being
made of nrud supported at the sides by stakes. The hearth was built ori
this platform and was surrounded by four mud walls rising as a sort of
furnace 2| or 3 feet high with a base 18 inches square. The front wall
had a small hole in it, whilst the side wall was almost cut away by an
arched opening through which the work was manipulated in the fire.
This rectangular structure was finished at the top by an arrangement which
could best be likened to the upper part of a large earthenware jala.
Alongside of the hearth on the platform was a seat' for the smith, several
anvils and several hemispherical bowls sunk in the platform containing
water for quenching and tempering: and all arranged on the platform within
the most convenient reach of the smith. This was in marked contrast
to the ordinary smithy which is grimy, littered with all kinds of
odds and ends, and apparently with no order or arrangement whatever.

The smith who finds his occupation in making the iron-work
for bullock-wagons or gharis needs a little more space and has generally a
kind of yard adjoining the smithy. He needs to store a considerable
quantity of iron bar for the tyres of the wheels and he needs a circular
pit for the operation of tyring the wheels. This is effected in the usual
way by heating the tyre until it fits easily on to the wheel and then
quenching it in position.

The preparation of knives, scissors and razors is rather a special
branch of the blacksmith's trade. We may call the blacksmith employed
in this work a cutler . He requires the usual hearth, bellows, anvils,
hammers, tongs and chisels and in addition he requires water for tempering
his blades (pan, pahin-halno), vice (bice, pa/csawasi), file (ret, ooga), drills
(bhumar), grindstone and polishing wheels (san). The water for quenching
or tempering the blades may be contained in a trough sunk in the floor
of the shop or in any handy vessel, such as an old tin canister. In
the Darjeeling district a vessel for holding the water is made of
bamboo. Some of the smiths recognise the delicacy of the operation of
tempering. Probably the best Darjeeling kukris are made of steel which
equals or excels in quality any other steel goods produced in Bengal, and
the It ami recognises something of the delicacy of his operations. For
the best work he uses only charcoal as fuel for his hearth and he con-
siders the tempering of his blades an operation requiring care and skill.
The grindstones and polishing wheels are characteristic tools of the
cutler's shop. They are made of sand and lakh or fine grit and lakh, and
as generally seen are discs about half an inch thick and about 1 foot
or 1| feet in diameter mounted on a wooden axle or spindle 3 to 4
inches in diameter. The spindle is mounted horizontally in a 'shallow
pit and a deepeer pit is cut to accommodate the disc. The disc is made to
revolve by a cord passing over the spindle. The cord is often worked by
hand or may pass over a large driving wheel worked by a treadle (see Plate
IX, Fig. 1). The district report from Burdwan contains an interesting
account of the work in probably the best cutlery shops in Bengal : —

"The blade of a knife, or scissors, is first of all fashioned by the blacksmith.
His implements are an anvil, bellows, a hammer, chisel, and a pair of pincers. He

( 31 )

heats the iron or steel in the furnace ana beats it to the required shape and size on
the anvil. A skilful blacksmith can thus fashion 72 knive blades during the course
of the day, two inches to three inches in length, by a quarter of an inch in breadth.
The blacksmith hands the rough blades to the grinders and polishers.

" There are two kinds of hones for grinding and polishing and sharpening
blades. The first is of ordinary sand found on the banks of rivers and is used for
rough work. The second is of very fine grit, obtained by crushing what appears to
be a very close grained sandstone, called locally 'kruich pathar.' As all the specimens
were grimy and discoloured, I was unable to identify them satisfactorily. The sand
is mixed with lakh, the proportion being one seer of Band to a quarter of a seer of
lakh. The ingredients are placed over a fire and mixed. The artizan then shapes his
wheel on a board with his hands. The solid wheel is about 15 inches in diameter,
and its polishing edge is about a quarter of inch in breadth. The polishing wheel
of stone grit is made in practically the same way. The ' kruich pathar ' is first of
all crushed very fine ; it is then carefully strained through a cloth, and only the finest
grit is mixed wth the lakh, in the proportions already indicated. The wheels are then
fixed to a wooden pole about 12 inches in girth and about 2 feet in length. This
pole passes through the centre of the wheel, and when force is applied, revolves with
the pole. A hole is dug in the floor of the workshop, and the pole and wheel are
fixed horizontally so as to allow them to revolve easily. The wheel is of course
vertical to the pole. The driving power is applied by another wheel 3 or 4 feet in
diameter fixed about 10 feet away. A belt of thin rope passes over the indentel
rim of the driving wheel and round the pole of the polishing wheel. The driving
wheel is woiked, as a rule, after the manner of a tread mill, and enables the operator
to revolve the polishing wheel with considerable force and rapidity. The iron driving
wheel is of European manufacture. Wooden ones made locally are now very rarely
used, the European article being more durable and efficient. The cutler squats on his
hams over the revolving polishing wheel. He takes the knife or scissor blade in both
hands and applies it to the revolving edge of the polishing and sharpening wheel,
dipping the blade in cold water, whenever it becomes too hot to hold. The skilled
artisan does the preliminary polishing and grinding on the sand wheel. He then
makes over the blade to a confrere who proceeds to apply it to the ' kruich pathar '
polishing and sharpening wheel. When the blade is sufficiently sharp and polished,
it is handed over to another artizan, who fixes it in a vice, drills the necessary holes,
shapes the brass, horn, or ivory for the handle, and fixes the blade thereto. The
brass is in thin sheets, and is readily cut with a pair of steel shears made in the
workshop. The hern, or ivory, is cut with a saw made locally or imported. It is
shaped with a file and fixed to the blade. The horn or ivory is also highly polished
by rubbing it in a mixture of brick dust, charcoal and oil. Finally, the knife is
again polished on the 'kruich patl.ar' hone. Inaccuracies of the handle and springs
at the back are also ground away, and the article is now bright and beautiful, and
ready for sale. In the case of a highly skilled artizan the polish is mirror-like, and
equal to that of the imported article; the edge is also equally keen and fine. The
operation in the case of a scissor Wade is somewhat different. The blade and thumb-
ring are polished and rounded on the revolving hones. The blade is then fixed in a
vioe, and the operator proceeds to polish the ring, and the lower parts, with an
instrument called a 'maskolla.' This is a somewha flat blade of steel rounded at the
edges and point and fixed to a wooden handle shaped thus : —

"It is made locally. This instrument is rubbed forcibly against and all round
the ring and lower parts of the scissor. It gives the finished article a very high
degree of polish, making it smooth and easy to the fingers. The holes for screws
and nails are drilled with an instrument called a ' bhumar.' This is a steel drill
made in the workshop ; it is 2 or 3 inches in length and is fixed to a round wooden

( 32 )

handle about 8 or 10 inches in length. It is a pointed instrument, and when worked
with a bow rapidly bores its way through brass, horn, ivory, iron and steel.

"In the case of the razor blade the process is identical. The blacksmith gives
it birth on the anvil ; it is then passed over to the polisher and the driller. But
very few artizans make razors, and only one or two cutlers lay claim to be able
to fashion razor blades of superfine quality. The brittle nature of the steel, and the
delicacy of the blades, demand an exquisite judgment nnd gentleness of touch on the
revolving hone. A good razor blade has also to be manipulated with great patience ;
the skilled artizan working from morning till evening cannot turn out more than
two such blades a day : and his profit is not more than 4 annas per rupee. The
price of these blades varies according to size and quality from Be. 1-4 upwards.

"It may be observed that horn and ivory are scraped with an instrument called
a rendar. This is a four-oornered piece of steel, 3 inches in height, fixed to a wooden
handle. The final polishing is done with brick-dust, charcoal and oil.

" The revolving hones last a month and-a-half in the case of the sand wheel and
3 months in the case of the 'kruioh pathar ' wheel. In large workshops half-a-dozen
such wheels may be seen spinning, so that the blacksmith is frequently under the
necessity of making fresh ones.

" Dies for stamping the artisan's name on the heel of the blade are made of
steel locally ; and I have no doubt that an uscrupulous artizan is able to forge the
trade mark and name of a European cutler."

In some parts of Bengal there are a few smiths who can chase orna-
mental patterns on the blades of knives, e.g., the Kami of Darjeeling can
ornament the blade of his kukri and in Dubrajpur ornamental sacrificial
knives can be obtained. The pattern is chased on the blade when it is
in the annealed state by means of a fine, hardened cliisel and a small
hammer. A certain amount of brass inlaying on such ornamental knives
is also done. The pattern is first chased and the brass is then brazed in.

A specialised class of workers are the gun-makers of Monghyr. There
are a few other gun-makers scattered about in Bengal, but Monghyr is
quite a centre for this work. Here there are 13 gun-makers' shops and
700 to 800 guns are produced annually.

Grun-barrels of three kinds are made, viz., plain, marked with simple
twist (mowa\ and damascened. The simple twist is a more or less regular
spiral mark running round the barrel, the marking being in the metal just
as in damascened work. The damascened barrel is marked all over with
small spirals of about \ inch diameter. To make a plain barrel a piece of
Swedish iron bar is taken and hammered into a strip about 6 feet long, 1
inch wide and ^ to ^ inch thick. This is then hammered into a close spiral
such as would be formed by winding the strip round a straight rod.
Neighbouring coils of the spiral are touching. Thus a rough tube is made,
the bore being considerably less than required in the finished barrel. By
heating and hammering the coils of the spiral are welded together and
the wall of the tube has now become solid. To prevent the iron being
spoilt by so many heatings it is generally covered with mud before being
put in the fire. In forging the ends of the tube a mandril is inserted
into the bore to prevent the lumen closing up. The tube is now bored, and
for this purpose an implement is used which may be likened to a large
railway carriage key [Plate VIII, Fig. 2 (d)~\. The barrel is fixed firmly
in position passing through a hole in a large post which is itself firmly fixed
in the ground. A man now inserts a borer of small bore into the barrel
and gradually bores through the barrel. This operation scrapes the sides of

( 33 )

the lumen and makes' the bore slightly greater and more uniform. A slightly
larger borer is now inserted and the operation repeated and gradually the
bore is made larger and more uniform until the desired size is attained.
This operation must be done gradually and generally takes a man three
days (Plate VIII, Fig. 1, shows the operation of boring). The outside
of the barrel is now filed up to the desired shape. To make a barrel
with the simple-twist marking, a number of strips of Swedish iron, say
about I to 1 inch wide, £ inch thick, and 8 to 10 inches long, are laid
alternating with the same number of soft steel strips of the same width
and length, the steel used for this purpose being the bands taken from
bales of imported cotton goods, etc. About 16 of these strips are piled
together and held together by a soft iron strip which is welded round
them. We thus have a bundle about 8 or 10 inches long, 3 inches wide
and £ to 1 inch deep showing the edges of the 16 strips at what may
be called the surfaces of the bundles. Several such bundles are displayed
in the photograph [Plate VIII, Fig. 2 (b) ]. This will make their
structure more easily understood. This is now heated and gradually
hammered into a strip about 6 feet long, 1 inch wide, and j to | inch
thick in such a way that the lines along which the alternate layers of
iron and steel have welded run the length of the strip [Plate VIII,
Fig. 2 (a) ]. This strip is now welded with one of soft iron of similar
dimensions and the strip thus obtained is used for making a barrel in
the same way as described already for the preparation of a plain barrel.
Of course the composite layer is kept outermost. To make a damascened
barrel a number (say, 8) of composite strips are prepared in the manner
already described, but they are made of smaller size. Each strip is then
twisted many times until it looks like a long screw, say 3 feet long £
inch diameter and with a £ inch pitch. These eight screw-like rods are
tied together [Plate VIII, Fig. 2 (c)] and forged out into a long strip
about 1 inch wide and £ inch thick. This is welded to a soft iron
strip of similar dimensions and the composite strip is made, into a barrel
in the way already described. Of course here also the composite layer
is kept outermost. After the barrel has been filed up true and polished
on the outside, the markings are brought out by the application of a
solution of chemicals known as "English mixture."

The guns usually produced are single-barrel muzzle-loading 12-boie
shot guns fired by a cap, the cap-nipple being at the side of the breech-
piece. The breech-piece is forged and filed out of one piece of soft iron
and is quite a complicated piece of work. This is screwed on to the
barrel, the screw thread being made by English taps and dies.

The largest shop in Monghyr belongs to one Burn Mistri, who is
somewhat more advanced than the rest of the gunmakers. He can make
a very good imitation of almost any gun you will give him — double-
barrelled breech-loaders with choke-bores, etc. I noticed in his shop a tool
for finally polishing the interior of the barrel which was very similar
to the tool used at the Government Small Arms Factory at Ishapore for
the same purpose, viz., a hard steel tool with a rectangular polishing
edge which is packed with pieces of horn, paper, &c., to fit the bore.
He can "blue" plain barrels, and temper the lock, triggers, &c., so
that they show a play of colours. The locks are generally chased
with ornamentation after English patterns, and I saw many gamples in

( 34 )

Burri Mistri's shop which were very fine copies of the pattern from
which they were taken.

Lastly, we may describe the methods of the worker in iron plate,
and take as a typical instance the making of a ghara or gagra^ a vessel
used for drawing from the well or for carrying water.

This vessel is represented in Plate IX, Fig. 2 (1). It is seen "to be
built up of several zone-like strips of sheet-iron rivetted together. The
sheet-iron is marked out by a compass [same figure (11)] and cut out by a
chisel, and the various zones are hammered until they have assumed their
proper curvature by means of a wooden mallet (5 and 6) on an anvil with
a concave surface (3). The various zones are put together temporarily
and the position of the rivets decided upon and marked. The various
pieces are then punched separately and rivetted together in the cold by
small rivets made from a thin rod of soft iron. The edges of the various
segments are well hammered before they are put together, and after the
ri vetting the line of junction of two pieces .is very vigorously hammered
to make a tight joint. For rivetting frequent use is made of the iron
clubs (2). These are firmly fixed in the floor of the shop. The ghara,
even when nearly complete, can be put over one of these clubs, the head
of which forms a hard smooth round surface against which the rivet may
be driven home. An awkward rivet just in the last stages may be some-
times driven home by the small club (12) or (13) held in the hand inside
the ghara whilst the outside is pressed against the concave anvil. By
way of ornament circles are drawn round the ghara by a compass with
a chisel-like point (11). The neck is put on last and consists of two sheet-
iron collars and a forged iron ring. It would be difficult to explain its
structure in words, but this may be readily understood by the sectional
drawing (4).

Almost without exception, the iron and steel used by the blacksmiths

come from Calcutta, being imported from Europe,
Eaw materials used. , . a <• Ai TT -j. j v j T -n i •

chiefly from the United Kingdom and Belgium.

In Sambalpur, the native iron is still used and perhaps in parts of Orissa,
Chota Nagpur and the Sonthal Parganas to a very limited extent. In the
Darjeeling district steel from Nepal is said to be used for the best kukris.
The bulk of imported iron used by the native blacksmiths is in the form
of bar, rod, sheets and plates. Mild steel bar is also used to a considerable
extent. Of late years, a large proportion of the imported steel of this
character has been supplied from Belgium. The mild steel bands used
for bales of imported cotton goods, &c., and which are available every-
where as a kind of waste material are largely used. As special qualities
of imported material used for special classes of work may be mentioned
the "Crown Swedish iron used at Monghyr for gun-barrels, and the cast-steel
of W. K. Pearce of Sheffield, used for cutlery at Burdwan. The smaller
cutlers frequently use old files as steel for their knives and scissors.

It is scarcely possible ;to make any general remarks as to the price of
theae raw materials, as the price at any place will depend on the Calcutta
rates, on the distance from Calcutta and on the quantities taken by that place.
The price of iron and steel in Europe for the last four or five years has
remained fairly steady, but within the last few years the war in shipping
freights JErojn the United Kingdom and Belgium to Calcutta must have caused

( 35 )

unusual and abnormal changes in the Calcutta rates. Belgium has also of
late years been "dumping" steel in large quantities into Calcutta. We
may take the rates in 1901 as being more normal than those of the last few
years. In this year the average Calcutta rates were roughly Rs. 4-8 per
maund for iron bar, Es. 5-5 for iron sheets and plates not galvanised or
tinned, Rs. 5 for steel bar and Rs. 6-2 for steel plates and sheets.
At the time of my tour (April 1907) enquiries from the blacksmiths
themselves showed that the rates in all the larger cities were much the
same, e.g., about Rs. 4-8 per maund for iron bar. In Dumka as might
have been expected the price was said to be a little higher, viz., Rs. 5.
The rate supplied to me at Barjeeling was probably erroneous as it ran
to Rs. 8 per maund. The smelters in the Sonthal Parganas valued their
kutcha iron at 20 — 25 seers per rupee, and said that 2 seers of kutcha iron
would give 1 seer of refined iron, making the value of refined native iron
Rs. 3-4 to Rs. 4 per maund in the form of bar. In Darjeeling the prices
I was given for cast-steel for cutlery appeared excessively high, viz., Rs. 20
to Rs. 30 per maund* for European material and Rs. 40 for Nepal steel.

By far the larger number of blacksmiths, the makers of rough agri-
cultural implements, work by themselves in their

Conditions of labour, wages, own homes without any assistance. The women-
earnings, &c. . ,•, j • ,

folk never appear to render any assistance except

in the Darjeeling district. Nowadays the finished goods are generally
sold for cash. The district report from the 24-Parganas states that the
cultivators who are the chief customers of the blacksmith pay him either
in cash or kind or sometimes in both. Solid mass iron from Sambaipur
is on rare occasions accepted by salt merchants from Cuttack who take
it in return for salt. But although the blacksmith Himself buys his raw
material for cash and sells his finished articles for cash, yet he generally
only works to order, not having sufficient capital to lay in any considerable
stock of iron. The earnings of such a worker may run as low as 2 annas
per diem and as a rule do not exceed 4 annas. The dealers in hardware
in the larger towns are men with a certain amount of capital and they will
place orders with the small blacksmiths round about. In such cases of
course the blacksmith loses the middleman's profits, but he may be
assured of a steadier demand for his goods.

Workers producing a finer quality of goods, such as cutlers, naturally
earn a somewhat larger sum than their less skilful fellow-craftsmen.
From eight annas to one rupee or even two rupees (Bankura) per diem
may be earned by this class of workers. Frequently too this higher
class of work is carried on in larger shops and the workers are the
employe's of the master cutler. Such daily workers will earn from Rs. 10
to Rs. 20 per mensem or even Rs. 30 may be paid for a skilful polisher.

An interesting system somewhat analogous to co-operation is reported
to be in vogue to some extent in the Sonthal Parganas. The blacksmiths
often group themselves into a band of six men to conduct a workshop
conveniently situated under a grove or a shady tree in the village, while
another man supplies the implements and capital. All the six men go on
working the whole day, and out of the seven articles manufactured, each
of the labourers gets one, while the seventh one is given to the man
who supplied the implements and capital.

* This price was also quoted in the Darjeeling District report.

CHAPTER V.

THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH'S PRODUCTIONS.

IN this chapter the more common articles of iron made by the
native blacksmith will be briefly described. Many of these are figured in
the accompanying plates, and these figures will, it is hoped, make a
long verbal description unnecessary. Many of these articles have somewhat
different names in different parts of the province. In all cases the most
common name has been given, and when any quite different word is also
used the locality is mentioned in which this second name is in vogue.
For convenience of description the following classification will be adopted :-

(I) Agricultural implements, tools, &o.
(II) Cooking utensils and other articles of domestic use.

(III) Tools and other articles used in various handicrafts and professions.

(IV) Weapons.

(I) AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS, TOOLS, &c.

First in importance among agricultural implements stands the plough.
In all parts of Bengal this is made entirely of wood with the exception
of an iron tip for the share. Quite generally — in Bengal proper, in
Behar, in Orissa, — this iron tip \_phdl or phdr ; longal miha (Orissa)] is
a straight piece of iron 1 foot long, 1 inch broad, | inch thick, and
sharpened at the ends (Plate X, Figs. 1 and 2). It fits into a groove
chiselled out for it in the upper surface of the wooden share and projects
a little at the tip. It is held in place by one or more iron staples. In
Murshidabad and in Burdwan I saw another type of plough-iron (Plate
X, Fig. 3) in shape somewhat like the head of a spear, about 14 inches
long, pointed at the tip, broadening to about 2^ inches in width and
then narrowing rapidly (to form a part corresponding to the spear ehaft).
This iron is also about \ inch thick and fitted in a groove on the upper
surface of the share, being held in place by a staple driven over the
narrow portion.

There is very little iron work about the ordinary bullock-cart. The
axle is of iron and there is generally a sort of iron collar (called pandari
in Orissa) fitting in the hub of the wheel and forming an axle-bearing.
This collar is made by welding together two pieces of iron of this shape

— ' > — . The hub is frequently bound with two or three thin iron
or steel bands. The wheel is retained on the axle by an axle-pin and
there are one or two washers which prevent the axle-pin from cutting
into the wood-work of the hub. These various parts are shown in the
drawing of the hub of a cart-wheel (Plate X, Fig. 5). The wheel has
invariably an iron-tyre (hal). It has already been mentioned that the
making of tyres for bullock-cart wheels forms a considerable part of the
work of village blacksmiths. Except for the axle and wheel the bullock-
cart is, as a rule, made entirely of wood. Sometimes the yoke is fast-
ened to the shaft by an iron pin, and sometimes at the ends of the
yoke there are iron-hooks to which parts of the harness are attached.
Yoke-hooks of the form shown in Fig. 4, Plate X, appear to be
characteristic of the Bhagalpur division. They also are apparently
termed hal.

( 37 )

Horses and bullocks are shod with iron shoes (nal). As a rule the
shoeing of horses and bullocks is a separate branch of the blacksmith's
trade and the farrier is called nal-band.

For digging the earth the implement invariably used is the kodali.
(In Orissa the name kad'd is given to an implement of this kind, and
apparently fonda, kori and kuri are tools of the same general character.)
The kodali is the implement which takes the place of the spade. The
blade is of the same shape and size as that of a spade, but the handle
is affixed so that the implement is used in the same manner as a pick
or adze (Plate X, Figs. 6 and 7). It is said that on the introduction
of the spade by a European planter the natives could not be made to
use it except in the manner of a kodali, one man driving in the spade
and holding the handle whilst another standing in front lifted the earth
by means of a rope attached to the handle low down near the blade.
The kodali made by the village blacksmith is of soft iron as a rule and
the socket for the handle is very massive and clumsy. Nowadays many
kodalis are manufactured in Europe and imported into this country — I have
seen many kodali ? made by the firm of John Perks & Sons of Wolver-
hampton. Such imported kodalis are made of steel and last longer than
the iron implements of indigenous manufacture.

For digging holes, e.g., for fixing a pole in the ground, a crow-bar
is used. This may be of iron or steel (sdbal) ; or the chisel-shaped end
may be of iron but affixed to a wooden shaft. Such an implement is
known as khantd [baisalthi (Behar) ; khanadti (Orissa) ]. Pick-axes are also
used for such purposes. In Bengal they are generally made with two
points (gdnti, gainta, gainti) as in Plate X, Fig. 8 ; in Orissa the one-pointed
pick, kunka, is also known— of the shape shown in Plate X, Fig. 9.

For grass-cutting sickle-shaped implements are used. These may be of
soft iron or of steel or partly of iron and partly of steel. Those of soft
iron are generally filed so that they have a saw-like or toothed edge and
are known as kachia or kdsthd ; those with smooth edges, generally
containing some steel, are termed hassua. (In Orissa the term dd or dda
is given to a sickle-like implement.) A number of drawings of these sickle-
like implements are given in the plate, showing to what extent the shape
may vary (Plate X, Figs. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15). In the narrow part
of the kachia, just in front of the wooden handle, there is generally a
kink. Scythes and other large grass-cutting implements are known in
Bengal, but are very little used. Frequently grass is torn up by the roots
by the men who get grass for horses. For cutting (!) grass in this way
an implement known as khurpd is employed. This form of khurpd is
something in shape like a trowel (Plate X, Fig. 19). The grass-cutter
takes a tuft of grass in his left hand and slides the khurpd along the earth
to cut the grass off at the root, but more often than not the result is that
the grass is torn up root and all. Another form of khurpd with a long
narrow blade instead of a short broad one is used as a weeding tool by
gardeners (Plate X, Fig. 20). Other forms of weeding tools are the nironee
and bida (Orissa). The nironee is in shape very like a tinker's soldering-bolt
(Plate X, Fig. 21), whilst the bida is apparently like an English garden-fork.

The garaser (gourasi, gdrdsd) is used for chopping straw for cattle.
The back of an iron blade about 6 inches long is let into one side of a

( 38 )

heavy wooden mallet (Plate X, Fig. 16), and the implement is used for
cutting1 straw into small pieces, for which purpose the straw is laid on
a flat surface such as a piece of wood. The following implements are
described in the report from Sambalpur as made in this district for thresh-
ing dhan: — Kahali, apparently something like a shepherd's crook, used for
tossing about hay when threshing dhan ; sdmi, an iron ring, which is fixed
to a pole for husking dhan ; and dai, used for threshing dhan.

For cutting down trees and for wood-cutting in general the implement
used is the axe or adze (kurdli, kulhari, kudhari ; tanga, tangi, tangari; basla,
lasula, basitli). The ordinary axe (Plate X, Fig. 18) is made o£ one piece
of iron, wedge-shaped, and the hole for the handle is forged through the
thicker end of the wedge, its axis parallel to the cutting edge of the axe.
Such an axe-head is frequently 8 inches long and almost 3 inches thick
at the broad end, so that it is a very clumsy looking tool. The large mass
of metal gives it, however, considerable momentun when in motion. Some-
times the axe-head is a less massive affair and instead of the handle
fitting into a hole in the head, the position is reversed and the axe-head is
shaped with a kind of spike or tongue which fits into an iron-socket on
the end of the shaft. By this arrangement the axe may be used with
the cutting-edge either parallel or at right angles to the length of the
shaft [see Figs. 17 (a) and 17 (5), Plate X]. An implement like a crow-
bar, kuradi, may be used for splitting timber. For cutting small stakes
and billets of wood, for pruning trees, etc., a bill-hook is largely employed.
In Bengal this is called dao, in Behar and Orissa katari, and in Chota
Nagpur dalia. A number of drawings in the plate (Figs. 22, 23, 24, 25,
26, 27, 28, 29 and 30) show the variations in the shape of the bill-hook
which occur in the province. The bill-hook is undoubtedly one of the
most extensively used implements in this province. It is at the same time
an agricultural and a household implement and is useful for a great variety
of purposes.

Vessels which are used for drawing water from wells will be described
under the head of domestic utensils; for irrigating the fields there is
frequently used a canoe-shaped vessel (dhunti, dhuni), swung by ropes from
an arrangement of bamboo poles. One end is depressed and is thus
brought under the surface in the available water on one side of a band.
On being released the dhunti swings up by its own weight and pours the
water thus taken up into the dry field on the other side of the band.
These -vessels are generally made from the dug-out stem of palm-trees,
but of recent years sheet-iron has been used to some extent for making
them.

(II) COOKING UTENSILS AND OTHER ARTICLES or DOMESTIC USE.

(a) Cooking utensils.

Portable fire-grates made of iron are not used by Bengalis, as all
their cooking is done over a hearth built of mud (chulha), but nevertheless
a large variety of such portable fire-grates (ungatis) as shown in Plate XI,
Figs. 1, 2 and 3, are made by native smiths, perhaps only for use in
the houses of Europeans. Such ungatis may be seen in large quantities
in the hardware dealers' shops in any of the large bazars. Besides fire-
grates over which a pan or dish may be heated, ovens (tezal) are made

( 39 )

like large pill boxes of sheet iron 20 inches or more in diameter and
about 8 inches high, standing on short legs (Plate XI, Fig. 4). Sweetmeats
may be kept hot in such an oven, by putting coals both underneath
and on the Ed. For handling hot coals iron-tongs (chimta) are used. In
Orissa a kind of spoon is also used for this purpose (nia kadhd chatu),
For baking bread a circular iron plate slightly convex upwards (idwd) is
used (Plate XI, Fig. 5). This is simply placed over the stove (chulha)
with the slightly convex side uppermost and when it is hot the dough
covered with flour is placed thereon. Iron frying pans for vegetables,
&c., are termed karahi (pithakara chatu, Orissa) ; large iron cooking pots
karah. The large cooking pots for rice, stew, &c., are generally not
made of iron but of tinned copper. Covers for cooking pots are some-
times made of iron; they are called dhdkd. Iron plates (thalis) are some-
times used. A large spoon used for cooking rice [hdtd, kulchhul or cheniche
(Behar)] (Plate XI, Fig. 6) is always made of iron. So also are khanli
(pithapatia, Orissa) an implement made out of one flat piece of iron plate
(Plate XT, Fig. 7) and used as a stirrer and for turning cakes when
frying; and jhdnjhard (jdlic&atu, Orissa) a large sieve-like spoon used for
lifting sweatmeats from the oil in which they have been cooked. A
jhdnjhard consists of a handle about 1 foot long and a flat disc about 6
inches in diameter perforated with a large number of holes through which
the excess of oil can flow away as the sweetmeat is lifted from the
frying-pan (Plate XI, Fig. 8) ; mathachatu (Orissa) is a similar utensil
without the holes in the disc. Almost every household in Bengal possesses
a banthi (panakhi, Orissa) which is a kind of knife fixed almost upright
in a horizontal board (Plate XI, Fig. 11) and used for cutting vegetables *'
and fish. The vegetable to be cut is pressed against the knife. The
banthi is frequently made of rather fanciful shapes, and often there is
added to the end of it a serrated iron disc which is useful for scraping
the cocoanut from its shell. The combined implement is termed kuruni.
A somewhat elaborate kuruni is shown in Plate XI, Fig. 12. Rough knives
(chhuri) with straight blades are used for cutting goat's flesh, &c. In
Patna I saw many straight knives and choppers, the whole knife, blade,
handle and all being forged from one piece (Plate XI. Figs. 9 and 10).
I noticed that the butchers instead of using these knives as a European
would do frequently held the handle between the toes and thus converted
the knife into an improvised banthi: it appears to come more natural to a
native of Bengal to cut in this way just as it appears to come more
natural for him to dig with a kodali rather than with a spade.

(J) Water-vessels.

In Behar and the upper parts of Bengal where water has to be drawn
from wells, the manufacture of water-vessels from sheet iron is an in-
dustry of considerable magnitude. The vessels which are most commonly
used for drawing from the wells are known as dones or doles. Tw-o types
of dole are known: the larger one (Plate XI, Fig. 13) may be described
as a cylindrical vessel with a conical bottom. The pieces of sheet iron
of which it is made are fastened together with rivets which stick out on
the outer surface of the vessel like studs. Attached to the top edge of
the dole are two rings to which a xope can be made fast. These doles
are generally about 1 foot in diameter and 18 inches high. They are

( 40 )

of considerable weight and on account of their conical bottoms they at once
fill when let down into the well. For this purpose they possess consi-
derable advantage over the English pail or bucket which, having a flat
bottom, is very apt to float on the surface of the water and to be filled
only with difficulty. From an artistic point of view also the dole is very
much to be preferred to the English bucket. A smaller type of dole
(Plate XI, Fig. 14) generally about 8 inches diameter and 8 inches high
may be likened in shape to an egg from which the pointed end has
been cut away. This type of dole has rivets flush with the outer surface
and is supplied with a handle somewhat like that of an English bucket.
In the centre of this there is a swivel-ring to which the well-rope is
attached. Besides the doles the ghara, ghaila or gagra is an iron water-
vessel very commonly used (Plate XI, Fig. 15). The manufacture of a
ghara has been already described in Chapter IV. These vessels may be
called pitchers. They are in shape very similar to the earthenware or
brass gharas. The iron gharas made in Bengal are almost all rivetted. In
Behar many gharas may be found in which the joints are brazed, but
these are said to come from Mirzapur. In connection with the drawing
of water from wells, mention may be made of the jhugra which is a
bundle of iron hooks so arranged that it bristles with hooks in all direc-
tions. This is tied to a rope and used for recovering water-vessels which
may happen to have fallen into the well. The vessel is sure to be caught
by one of the many hooks on the jhugra. A common form is shown in
Plate XII, Fig. 8. '
4 (c] Personal.

The razor (khur, churra, khura), the nail-cutter (narttn), the receptacle
for the black pomade used for blacking the eyes of children (kdnjal-latd,
kajrowta, kajranta) are iron articles used in the toilet. Razors are made
and ground by most cutlers. They are of the same shape as the European
article (not hollow-ground), but are generally very rough affairs. The
oriental barber who is such an expert as to be able to shave a sleeping
man without awakening him is not to be found in Bengal. The napit of
this province is far inferior in skill to the ordinary English barber and
cannot strop to a fine edge either his own country-made razor or one of
good European make. The nails are generally pared and cleaned by the
barber after the customer has been shaved. The kajrowta (Plate XII,
Fig. 4) is a small spoon with a lid to the bowl and a hook at the end
of the handle for convenience in hanging up the spoon. The black is
made by putting a little oil in the spoon and heating over a lamp until
it takes fire. This toilet accessory is invariably hung from the bottom
of the bed in the lying-in chamber, so that the ointment may be at once
applied to the eyes of the new-born infant.

Finger-rings and toe-rings (angtiy anguri] made of iron are frequently
worn by the poorer people. The blacksmith himself very frequently wears
an iron finger-ring. The iron bracelet which is worn by all married
women has already been mentioned (vide Chapter I). Necklaces partly
made of iron may frequently be seen worn by men.

(d") Miscellaneous.

For cleaning the hookah an iron skewer is used; for handling the
charcoal for the pipe, a small tong is used — frequently simply a few

( 41 )

inches of the steel binding from a bale bent into the shape of a tong.
For cutting the betel-nut, a special instrument is used [jdnti y saratha
(Behar), guacdti (Orissa)]. This is in shape something like a nut-cracker,
but instead of the broad crushing surfaces, there is on one side a sharp
steel edge (Plate XII, Figs. 1, 2 and 3). Fairly good steel is required
for this purpose as the betel-nut is very hard. The jdnti is frequently
to some extent ornamented and its shape may be fantastically varied.
The native of Bengal is very fond of keeping birds (generally green
parrots) and the bird's-cage (pinjra, ptjra] is made not of wire but of strips,
\ inch to i inch wide, cut from iron sheet. These strips are put together
in much the same way as the wires in an English bird-cage. The result
is a very clumsy looking affair (Plate XII, Fig. 5), which must be very
much of an iron-barred dungeon for the unfortunate inmate. Such cages
are largely made in Calcutta and Patna. Rat- traps built in the same
substantial manner (Plate XII, Fig. 6) are more excusable. Perches for
birds (udda) are very frequently seen in the hardware dealers' shops. They
are generally hoop-like swinging perches and carry one or two dishes for
water and seed. For locking doors, a padlock is generally used either in
conjunction with staples driven into the door and door frame or with
staples and bar or staples and chain. Many imported cheap padlocks (tdld)
are used and many very rough articles are made by the native blacksmiths
after the European pattern. In the neighbourhood of Patna, a somewhat
fanciful form of padlock is manufactured (Plate XII, Fig. 7) and this type
is very largely used in Patna city. In the morning a shop-keeper may
be seen going to open his shop with something very like a screw-driver
in his hand, which is the key of this kind of padlock.

HI. — TOOLS AND OTHER ARTICLES TJ8ED IN VARIOUS HANDICRAFTS AND

PROFESSIONS.

The tools of the blacksmith have already been enumerated ; those of
the coppersmith, silversmith and goldsmith are similar, but smaller and
lighter. The tools of the carpenter are the hammer (hdturu^, the wood-
cutting chisel (rukhani), the axe (barsi), the plane (randa), the saw (ara,
flri), the drill (bumar), the screw-driver (peclkas). These are all much after
the same pattern as the European articles. The drill is somewhat different,
being worked by a kind of " bow, the string of which passes once round
the shaft of the drill. In building a hut or godown, the following iron
articles are generally used : — nails (small — kdntd ; medium, size — pardk ; large
— gazdl), staples, hooks, door-hinges (kabj'd), bolts (gazdl), door-bars, door-
chains (hdnsJikdt). The nails are of various shapes. In Behar the doors
are frequently studded with nails with ornamental heads — star- shaped with
hemispherical boss in centre. The door-hinges are invariably of the simplest
pattern. In the construction of a boat a special kind of nail shaped (~"~\
(pdldna) is used for holding together and in place the planking of the
hull. Large bolts are used for fastening together the keel and the ribs.
Boat anchors (nangar) are generally of the shape of grappling irons. The
anchor chain (sikii, sikul) completes the list of iron articles in an ordinary
native boat. The mason uses an iron or steel implement for cutting and
shaping bricks (basuli) and a trowel (karni). The durst uses scissors (kainehi)

( 42 )

and needles made of steel. All the country -made scissors are evidently
made after the pattern of the European article. The shop-keeper uses
scales for weighing which generally have iron-pans and often iron beams ;
and even a small shop-keepor often keeps his money in a safe. Safes
are made and repaired by the larger blacksmiths, but no doubt such safes
are not particularly burglar-proof, their chief advantage lying in their
weight, which prevents them from being carried bodily away and in"
their having thick iron plate walls which cannot easily be cut through.
As a result of the so-called Swadeshi movement, there have started within
the last few years several native firms for the manufacture of safes only,
and some of these firms claim to manufacture safes equal to the best
European articles. At the recent Industrial and Agricultural Exhibition,
Calcutta, 1906-07, a native firm offered safes to stand any tests.

IV.— WEAPONS.

Enough has already been said about the manufacture of guns (bandtik)
at Monghyr. The number of guns manufactured in other parts of the
province is negligible. Pistols are also manufactured by the gun-makers
of Monghyr. These same mistris also manufacture sword-sticks which are
in imitation of the European articles. The only part of Bengal in which
at the present day anything of the nature of a sword or dagger of indi-
genous design is manufactured is the Darjeeling district. Here the Nepali
kami manufactures kukris and kataris (Plate XII, Fig. 11), the former being
by far the more common of the two. The kukri blade is generally about
1 foot long, though occasionally much longer blades are produced. The
very characteristic shape of the blade is too well known to need descrip-
tion (Plate XII, Figs. 9 and 10). Probably also a few Lepchha knives
(ban) (Plate XII, Fig. 12) are made in this district. In the bazaar of
the town of Darjeeling many interesting knives, daggers, swords, &c.,
are exhibited by the curiosity dealers These are always said to come
from Tibet, Bhutan and Nepal. I made special enquiries to see if these
articles actually did come from the places mentioned or if they were
manufactured in the bust is around Darjeeliug. It appears that they are
not manufactured to any extent in the Darjeeling district. A few kukris
which are said to come from Nepal are no doubt manufactured here, but
that is about all. The explanation of this lies in the fact that the
present Darjeeling district before it was taken over into Bengal was almost
uninhabited, and all the Nepalis, Bhutias and Lepchhas to be found here
are quite recent immigrants, and consider it natural to import articles
from Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim, rather than manufacture themselves. Men-
tion has already been made of the special Nepal steel with which the best
kukris are supposed to be made. Undoubtedly many kukris which can be
bought in Darjeeling are made of very fine steel. The inferior quality
kukiis which can also be bought are probably all manufactured from
European steel r aund about Darjeeling. The blade of an ordinary kukri
is not ornamented. Sometimes a little ornamentation is chased on the
blade, the design consisting of lines of small semicircles or dots or
sinuous lines of which the constituent parts are circles, or patterns com-
posed of straight lines (Plate XIII, Fig. 1). The straight line, the dot
and the circle are the only constituents of the patterns of the Nepalese

kami. The patterns on an ornamented kukri may also be inlaid in brass.
A very common inlaid pattern IB apparently an image of the rising sun
(Plate XIII, Fig. 2). I found a ka<ni in Darjeeling who was able to
make for me an ornamental kukri, equal to any from Nepal, but as a rule
he had no. demand for such articles and never thought of making them
unless he was given a definite order.

Large knives for sacrificial purposes (kanrn, dao) are manufactured in
several places in South-East Bengal. These knives are kept in Hindu
temples and are used for striking off the heads of sacrificial goats. The
knives themselves are tacred. There are two types of such knives. The
one is very similar to the ordinary bill-hook and is about 2 feet long.
The other type (Plate XII, Fig. 15) has a very characteristic shape. It
is identical in design with sacrificial knives manufactured in Assam and
East Bengal. Probably the pattern originates in Assam or the very
eastern districts of East Bengal, as there is some resemblance between this
pattern and that of another type of sacrificial knife used in Assam and
Bhutan. It is characteristic of the weapons of the Mongolian races, that
the blades broaden at the end. Moreover, at the present time knives of
this type appear to be more nicely made in these eastern districts than in
Bengal. Hill Tippera and Sylhet are especially famous for them. In
Bengal the best examples are made in Nadia and in Dubrajpur (Birbhum
district). These knives are large and heavy, being often 3 feet long,
with an average width of blade of 4 or 5 inches. They are ornamented
with brass inlaying and with ordinary chasing. At the end of the blade
an eye is frequently drawn and the handle is commonly ornamented
with an elephant's head, the blade projecting from the mouth of the animal.
The back of the blade is ornamented with strips of inlaid brass. In
several examples from Dubrajpur the blades were ornamented with chased
floral patterns (Plate XIII, Fig. 9).

Battle-axes are still manufactured in Chota Nagpur and Orissa. The
most common forms are shown in Plate XII, Figs. 13 and 14, but many
variations from this are found. These axes are now used as weapons of
self-defence against wild animals and are carried by people going into
jungles. They are also used to some extent as ordinary hatchets and for
sacrificial purposes. These axes frequently bear some slight chased orna-
mentation, the pattern of which is invariably composed solely of straight
lines, dots and portions of circles (Plate XIII, Fig. 5).

Bows and arrows are still • frequently seen in the Sonthal Par°-anas,
in Chota Nagpur and in Orissa. The arrow heads are of iron (Plato
XII, Figs. 16, 17, and 18). The Sonthalis are said to be exceedingly
good shots with these weapons, with which they do all their hunting
Even tigers and bear are hunted with the bow and arrow, and the
arrow can be shot with such speed as to penetrate the thick hide of tho
wild pig. For birds and smaller game, a blunt-headed arrow is used
(Plate XII, Fig. 20). Even 6sh and aquatic animals are killed with the
bow, and Plate XII, Figs. 19 and 21, show the missiles used for this
purpose. The three-pronged arrow is for gariyals, the fish-eating crocodiles.
Spear-heads of iron are also made in Chota Nagpur and Orissa. The
spear-heads are pointed and not blade-like. The round shields of Bengal

a 2

( 44 )

are scarcely made nowadays. It is not, however, so many years since
steel or iron circular shields were made in the Sonthal Parganas and in
Chota Nagpur. Plate XII, Fig. 22, shows such a shield. Again, it
will be noticed that the constituent parts of the ornamental pattern are
straight lines and parts of circles and that no other curve occurs.
This, the absence of any but the simplest curve, appears to be a
characteristic feature of ornamentation designed by any of the aboriginal
tribes of Bengal.

CHAPTER VI.
A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE MODERN INDUSTRY.

THE insignificance of the iron and steel industry of this province has
already been emphasised; and from a study of the art of working in iron
and steel as practised by the native blacksmith very little has been found
in favour of this branch of the industry. The native blacksmith generally
works only to order, and is thus frequently idle ; even when at work the
amount of material he can handle is very small ; and the products of his
handiwork are neither noted for their durability nor for their beauty.
Nowadays many of the articles he produces are inferior imitations of
European articles.

The only pleasing side of the industry in this province is what we
may call the " modern industry," iron and steel work carried on in large
works according to European methods. This industry is of course quite
small, but it has developed very greatly within recent years, and its
condition and future prospects appear very hopeful. And although there
are only a few such, this province can boast engineering works which
in size and equipment compare very favourably with all but the largest
works in England ; and the Bengal Iron and Steel Works produce pig-iron
in blast furnaces of the most up-to-date pattern. In this branch of the
industry Bengal compares very favourably indeed with the rest of India.
This is the only province in which pig-iron is produced, and the
importance of the private engineering firms can be judged from the fact
that of a list of nine firms in the whole of India, which are considered
by the Government of India of sufficient size and importance to be allowed
to tender for Government work, seven are Bengal firms.

The following list gives the more important iron and steel and
engineering works in the province : —

The Bengal Iron and Steel Co.'s Works, Barakar.

Messrs. Burn & Co.'s Engineering Works, Howrah.

Messrs. Jessop & Co.'s Bridge Works and Foundry, Howrah.

Messrs. Jessop & Co.'s Engineering Works, Calcutta.

Messrs. Jessop & Co.'s Rolling-stock Works, Garden Beach, Calcutta.

East Indian Railway Engineering Workshops, Jamalpur.

East Indian Railway Workshops of the Carriage and Wagon Department.

Lillooah.

Eastern Bengal State Railway Engineering Workshops, Kanchrapara.
Government Gnn and Shell Factory, Cossipore and Ishapore.
Government Rifle Factory, Ishapore.

Messrs. J. H. King & Co.'s Engineering Works, Howrah.
The Hooghly Docking and Engineering Co., Ld., Howrah.

The British India Steam Navigation Co.'s Docks and Engineering Workshops,
Howrah.

The Ganges Engineering Works, Howrah.

Messrs. Turner, Morrison & Co.'s Ship-building Yards, Shalimar.

( 46 )

Besides these, there are a large number of smaller firms, e.g., Messrs.
Butler & Co. of Muzaffarpur and various firms under native management
in and near Calcutta. Some idea of the number of these smaller firms
may be obtained from a directory. Messrs. Thacker, Spink & Co.'s Calcutta
Directoiy for 1907 returns —

Boiler-makers

Cutlers ... ... ...

Electrical Engineers ... ...

Mechanical Engineers ...

Structural Engineers
Engineers and Contractors ...

2
4

20
20
16
87

The following table, giving figures to show the magnitude of some
of the larger works, must be considered as only a very rough approxima-
tion. It may be taken as applying to the period 1905-06 : —

WOBKS.

Number of
men
employed.

Amount
of raw
materials
used per
annum.

Value of
products
per
annum.

Es.

Bengal Iron & Steel Works, Barakar...

3,000

t! "•

36,00,000

Messrs. Bum & Co., Ld., Works,
Howrah.

4,500

26,00,000

40,00,000

Messrs. Jessop & Co.'s Works —

Garden Beach

1,300

• *•

Calcutta

...

• • •

Howrah

...

P ••

East Indian Eailway —

Engineering Workshops, Jamalpur

10,000

...

54,00,000

Wagon Shops, Lillooah

3,500

• • •

» • •

Eastern Bengal State Railway
Engineering works, Kanchrapara.

...

i • •

Government Ghin and Shell Factory,
Cossipore and Ishapore.

6,000

36,75,000

• • •

Government Eifle Factory, Ishapore . . .

...

6,50,000

• • •

The Hooghly Docking and Engineer-
ing Co., Howrah.

200—1,000

2,50,000

5,50,000

These figures show 30,000 men employed in seven works only; the
total number employed in iron and steel and engineering works may be
roughly estimated as at least 40,000.

The following brief accounts of some of the more important works
are written after a personal visit to the works concerned. I must here
offer my best thanks for the facilities which were in all cases extended
to me: —

( 47 )
The Bengal Iron and Steel Works, Barakar.

These works are situated on the grand chord line of the East Indian
Railway, a few miles from Asansole. They consist essentially of blast
furnaces and a foundry. There are three blast furnaces, which are all of
the same type, with cup-and-cone arrangement for feeding and closing the
mouth, and the hot blast is supplied by five tuyeres to each furnace. The
blast is heated by Cowper stoves, of which there are eight. At the time of
my visit, two furnaces were in blast and two stoves were in blast and six in
gas. The size of the furnaces may be judged from the production. When
three furnaces are in blast, this amounts to 6,000 tons per month. The
coke for the furnaces is at present largely obtained from Jheria, though
it is seriously under consideration by the firm to make all their own
coke so as to ensure uniformity of quality. The large percentage of ash
in Indian coal and coke is one of the difficulties which beset the producer
of pig-iron in this country. The ore is obtained over a considerable area
in the Bengal coal-fields, and very different grade ores are obtained from
the various workings. The ores all contain the iron in the form of Fe^ 0,;
and some, e.g., the Kalimati ores, are high grade and contain as much as
65 per cent. iron. The majority, however, contain a high percentage of
silica, often as much as 20 per cent. "With the present system of working,
the various ores are mixed so as to feed the furnace with a material of
constant proportions. The Company are, however, prepared to work with
purer ore in one furnace so as to produce a haematite pig suitable for
acid-hearth steel-making, if there is sufficient demand. The limestone used
comes from Sutna.

The ordinary foundry pig produced has the following composition: —

(Analyses kindly supplied by the General Manager of the Works)
Si

Alii ...

•••

C (graphitic) -..
C (combined)

which, the Company claim, shew that their pig compares favourably with
the best English foundry pig.

The foundry which is close to the blast furnaces produces about 15,000
tons of castings per annum and is capable of making from 25,000 to
30,000 tons. The Barakar pig only is used for the foundries. The bulk
of the castings are pipes and pot-sleepers, but at the time of my visit I
saw a number of small and intricate castings being made also.

At Barakar there is also a steel-producing and rolling plant (two
25-ton basic open-hearth furnaces and rolling plant to correspond) which
was put up and commenced work in 1904, but was closed down and is
now lying idle. (A discussion on the general question of steel-production
in Bengal will be found in Chapter VIII.)

A large number of the workers at Barakar are housed by the Company,
and great care is taken that the dwellings shall be kept in a perfectly
sanitary condition. Distilled water being produced in quantity in the

No. 1.

No. 2.

No. 3.

No. 4.

3-40

3-00

2-75

2-40

1-40

1-50

1-75

1-80

1-20

1-30

1-40

1-45

0-02

0-03

0-04

3-45

3-20

3-00

2-90

0-23

0-26

0-30

0-40

( 48 )

works is supplied to all. The Company's own medical officer systematically
inspects the lines, and a thorough system of control is in vogue.

Messrs. Burn fy (70. 's (Ld.} Works, Howrah.

These works are situated on the Howrah side of the Hooghly and
have the advantage of a considerable length of river-front for ship-building
and for taking in and despatching goods. They are also well connected
with the railways. The works may for convenience be divided into four
sections — (a) the foundry, turning, fitting and engine-shops; (b) the bridge
and girder-shop ; (c) the wagon-building yards ; (d) the ship-building depart-
ment. Besides these, there are also large store godowns for the storage
not only of materials for construction, but also of goods which are sold
by the Company as dealers.

The ship-building department is necessarily on the river front ; the
bridge-shop runs at right angles to the river front right away back from
the river to the public road on the Howrah side. It is a very large shop,
1,200 feet in length, and is fitted up in the most modern fashion for
systematically turning out large quantities of work It has overhead electric
cranes, multiple electrically-driven drills and hydraulic and pneumatic
rivetters. The wagon yards run parallel to the bridge- shop on the one
side, and on the other side are the turning shops, fitting shops, foundry,
etc. The whole works are conveniently fed by a system of rails running
from the river-front.

At the time of my visit the works had on hand a considerable amount
of bridge-work, 500 jute wagons for the Bengal-Nagpur Railway, a small
ocean-going steamer being built under Lloyd's survey, a number of ferry
boats for the Rangoon service, a floating waste-pipe for the steam dredger
Sandpiper for the Calcutta Port Commissioners, the erection of a number
of steam ferries also for the Port Commissioners, as well as a variety of
work in the engine shops.

Messrs. Jessop 6f Co.'s (Ld.) Works.

The works at Howrah are essentially bridge and roof works. There is
one long bridge-shop which comes up to the river-front at one end and is
supplied with electric overhead cranes, multiple drills, hydraulic rivetters,
etc. The foundry is also here, having been lately transferred from
Calcutta, The chief work on hand at the time of my visit was for the
new jetties and godowns for the Calcutta Port Commissioners — steel and
reinforced concrete structures. There was also a large order under
execution for mill-work — pillars, roof-work, shafting, pulley-drives, journals,
etc.

The Phoenix Works at Calcutta are the engine-building shops. Here a
number of small winding engines for the Bengal collieries were undei
construction. A number of jute presses were also being built.

In the Rolling-stock Works at Garden Reach all parts of a wagon are
manufactured, except wheels, axles and axle-boxes. At the time of my visit
they had on hand an order for 500 wagons for the East Indian Railway
and 600 wagons for the Bengal-Nagpur Railway. The works were fitted
with all the most modern appliances, eg., for rapid cutting of heavy steel

( 49 )

sections, for cutting plates, multiple punching, die-stamping, pneumatic
rivetting, etc. In the case of the wagons for the East Indian Railway,
the order for which was placed owing to emergency, the springs and draw-
bars were being made, although the Railway Board had decided that these
parts could not be made in this country and must be imported.

The Government Gun and Shell Factory, Cossipore and hhapore.

The size of this factory can be judged from the large number of
hands employed (6,000). At the time of my visit the factory was producing
50 18-pounder quick-firing field guns and 180,000 shells per annum. On
account of the necessity of using very special steel for the construction of
guns and shell, a steel-producing plant is an important part of the factory-
There are at present two 10-ton acid open-hearth furnaces, and the material
used for these furnaces is scrap-steel, haematite pig from Cumberland, and
a very small quantity of ore. These furnaces can produce 40 — 60 tons per
diem, which is a much larger quantity of steel than required by the factory
itself in time of peace, and the Factory Superintendent is at present trying
to find a market for the excess production The shell-making shops cover
a very large area. The size of this branch is being very much increased
and it is being transferred fiom Cossipore to Ishapore. The large steam-
hammers and hydraulic presses are a feature of these shops. The making
of guns has only recently been taken up again at Cossipore. In the
shops devoted to gun and gun-carriage making, the work is of a highly
specialised character requiring highly skilled workmen. The castings and
forgings required are of a highly complicated character, and the subsequent
machining requires not only exceptional and ingenious machine tools, but
also tools capable of working to an exceptional degree of accuracy. The
shops devoted to fuse and gauge-making are instructive examples of
automatic shops.

Since the Boer War, it has been decided that the ordnance factories
in India must be enlarged sufficiently to supply all the warlike stores
required by the Indian Army, and consequently Cossipore and the Ishapore
branch of the factory will be greatly enlarged.

Although the labour required in many parts of the factory must be
highly skilled, yet practically all the workers have been entirely trained
in the factory. The labour as recruited is generally quite untrained. A.
notable feature is the large proportion of Muhammadan workers. In the
automatic tool shops the men earn b\ annas per diem, whilst the highest
trained mechanics can earn Re. 1-8 to Re. 1-12 per diem. The officers
in charge of this factory claim that they have done a great deal for
the iron and steel industry of the province in the way of training
mechanics, who frequently leave to find employment with private firms.
Most of the workers at the Ishapore Factory are housed in dwellings
provided by the factory, and great care is taken that these quarters shall
be clean and sanitary.

The Government Rifle Factory at Ishapore.

This factory is close to the Ishapore branch of the Government
Gun and Shell Factory. It is scarcely yet in full working order, but

( £0 )

during the next year it is expected that 80,000 rifles will be manufactured
here. A visit to this factory leads to an appreciation of the accuracy of
the work required in a regulation rifle and to the conviction that the
native of India, under proper supervision and guidance, is quite capable of
doing even the highest class of work.

* The Engineering Workshops of the East Indian Railway at Jamalpur.

The workshops are equipped with all necessary accommodation and
appliances for building locomotives and the manufacture of railway plant
and material of all classes (except rails). The iron foundry turns out over
2,000 tons of castings, the steel foundry about 300 tons, and the rolling

mills about 400 tons of iron and steel bars per month The

works cover 99 acres, of which 19 are roofed over.

* The Rolling-stock Works of the East Indian Railway at Lillooah.

The workshops and staff quarters cover an area of some 200 acres
and about 3,500 men are employed in the construction and repair of
rolling-stock.

• Not visited. Accounts taken fr< m East Indian Kailway Time-Table, February 1907, pp. 108-109.

CHAPTER VII.

INSTRUCTION IN THE TECHNIQUE OF THE INDUSTRY.

VERY little has been done in tKe province in the way of imparting a
knowledge of the technique of the iron and steel industry in professedly
educational institutions. At the Civil Engineering College, Sibpur, there is
a department of mechanical engineering with well equipped foundry, smithy
and turning shops, and all the students as a matter of course pass through
this department. The native students are of the Babu class and in practice
it has resulted that the majority of the successful students of the College
have obtained appointments in the Public Works Department of the
Government and that few have taken up mechanical engineering as a
career. This class of students are of too high a social standing to work as
mechanics ; they have as a rule no money to start concerns of their own ;
European firms will not employ them as foremen, because Europeans are
considered much more satisfactory in handling labour, and up to the present
the number of native engineering firms who might employ them in this
way is exceedingly limited. Naturally, therefore, the majority of the
successful students are attracted to the Public Works Department of the
Government which can find them employment.

At the Civil Engineering College there are a limited number of
Europeans and Eurasians taking the same courses as the native students,
and some of these after passing satisfactorily through the College obtain
employment as foremen in the European firms.

There are also at Sibpur a few artisan pupils who belong to the mistri
class. These come at an early age and pick up their education in the
shops. They are given a small salary, Us. 3 to Es. 5 per mensem, to
compensate their parents for their labour, and as they grow older they
obtain employment as mistris in some of the Calcutta engineering works.

In the following institutions which are affiliated to the Civil Engineering
College, Sibpur, the students receive a course of manual training which
includes a certain amount of work in iron and steel : —

The Dacca Engineering College.
The Behar School of Engineering.
Patna Collegiate School.
Burdwan Technical School.
Midnapore ditto.

Ranchi ditto.

Bhagalpur Schoolj (B classes).

Dacca Collegiate School.

Rangpur Technical School.

Pabna ditto.

Comilla ditto.

Barisal ditto.

Rampur Boalia School (B classes).

Mymensingh School ( ditto ).

Victoria School, Kurseong.

All the students in these schools are of the Babu class (except at the
Victoria School, Kurseong, which is reserved for Europeans and Eurasians),
and are even less likely than the students of the Sibpur College to find a
career in the mechanical branch of the Engineering profession.

With the growth of the Swadeshi movement, there is some possibility
of these students starting small concerns of their own or managing small
concerns financed by small native capitalists or of finding employment in
larger native concerns if such are started, but even the keen advocate of

• a

( 52 )

the Swadeshi movement does not seem willing to put his money into the
industrial development of the country, and such native concerns are not
springing up as one might have expected.

The Reformatory Schools of Alipore and Hazaribagh teach blacksmith'8
work and cutlery.

It does not appear, however, that for the artisan classes employed in
the iron and steel industry any more efficient education is required than
they naturally acquire in the factories and workshops in which they are
employed. The work of the mechanics in these shops is satisfactoiy, and
with proper training in this practical manner, the native can perform
satisfactorily the most difficult mechanic's work. And the higher class of
employe's in the Engineering firms under European control will always be
obtained from Europe. So that for the proper development of the modern
iron and steel industry in the province it does not appear that any further
direct educational measures are necessary.

CHAPTER VIII.

PROSPECTS OF THE IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY IN BENGAL.

THE development of the modern iron and steel industry on the factory
system would be undoubtedly to the advantage of the province, especially
if it were made imperative on the factory management to provide sufficient
thoroughly sanitary house accomodation for their workers. The province
would gain, as a larger number of the inhabitants would be occupied in
a thoroughly profitable manner, instead of wasting their time either from
want of work or want of knowledge and training, and whether the capital
by which the factories were financed were European or Bengali, it would
not affect the result, viz., that the province would be richer by the
market value of the additional work done. The province being richer
would be less likely to suffer from famine. The development of the iron
and steel industry could not be objected to on any similar ground to that
on which complaints against the jute mills are sometimes based, viz., that
owing to the high price which can be obtained for jute, large areas
previously under rice are now given over to jute cultivation, consequently
the rice crop is diminished and the price of foodstuff is raised. There
would no doubt be some difficulty in inducing any very large number of
the people of the province to adopt the factory system and leave the villages
of their birth and the land to which they are attached. But if hand in
hand with the development of the factory system the native could be
taught improved methods of agdculturo, many men could be spared from
the land for factory work without any decrease in the crop production.
There would probably be still further difficulty in inducing the workers
to live contentedly in clean and sanitary quarters supplied by the factory
management. But such a system would do a great deal to improve the
health and physique of the race. And this taken in conjunction with the
mental development which would also result must be considered as a very
strong argument in favour of the factory system. There is, however, some
objection to the congregation of too many factories around one centre such
as Calcutta and Howrah, as in the neighbourhood of a large city it would
be difficult to compel the workers to live in factory quarters, and unless this
could be done, the result of the congregation of factories around the cities
would simply be that a considerable proportion of the population would
move from the country districts to the native quarters of the cities where
the sanitation is even worse than in the villages. For the sake of the
working classes it would be preferable for the factories to be more or less
distributed along the lines of railway and for new factories to be
started away from already existing native cities so that the housing of
the workers could be properly tackled at the start in each case.

It will of course be always necessary for a certain number of black-
smiths to work in their present style in the small villages to make repairs
in the agricultural implements of the raiyat population, to shoe the cattle
and so on ; and probably the number of workers of this kind which will
always be required is not much less than the present total of native black-
smiths. There appears, however, no reason why the number should increase,

( 54 )

nor does it appear desirable that this should occur. Agricultural imple-
ments, such as kodalis, sickles, bill-hooks, etc., can be made more economi-
cally and of better quality in factories than on the "cottage" system,
and with increase of railway communication, the distribution of factory-
made articles of this class will be effected more arid more cheaply, so that
the scope of the village blacksmith will in tune be reduced down to
repair work only.

The development and future prospects of the industry on the factory
system depend on a large number of different factors, e.g., on the advan-
tage which the local industry can count on securing over the European
trade on account of freight costs, on the growth of the local demand,
and especially in this country on the support of Government. In discus-
sing the matter we must consider that the local industry is in competition
with European rivals which have slowly developed, and as the result of
long experience have in many directions come very near perfection. There
are many specialised branches of the trade into which the local firms can
scarcely hope to enter, e.g., the manufacture of engines of high power,
of electrical machinery or of boilers. The demand for such articles in this
country is limited and their manufacture requires a large special plant
and special experience. Again in such a trade as the manufacture of
nails, nuts, bolts, rivets, washers, etc., the local firms cannot compete. This
class of goods can be shipped out for much the same cost as the raw
materials required for their manufacture, and the local industry is in this
case not at all helped by the shipping tariff.

The direction in which it appears there is most chance of success
is in heavy work, such as bridge and mill- work, etc., for here a high
degree of specialisation is not necessary, a developing country has
considerable requirements in this direction, and the shipping rates are a
considerable help. The assistance derived from the shipping rates comes in
this way: — The rate per ton increases enormously with the weight of
the smallest parcels into which the goods can be packed. Thus quoting
from shipping rates kindly supplied to me by Messrs. Burn & Co. : —

January 1906— Machinery — Glasgnw — Birkenhead to Calcutta.

s. d.

Under 1 ton lifts ... 13 6 per ton weight or measurement.

1 ton and under 2 ton lifts ... 15 0 ditto ditto.

2 ditto 3 ditto ... 20 0 ditto ditto.

3 ditto 5 ditto ... 28 4 ditto dttto.
5 ditto 8 ditto ... 42 6 ditto ditto.
8 ditto 10 ditto ... 57 6 ditto ditto.

10 ditto 15 ditto ... 85 0 ditto ditto.

15 ditto 20 ditto ... 125 0 ditto ditto.

Local firms manufacturing this class of goods will import their raw
materials at a much cheaper rate than the finished article can be shipped
into the country.

The recent freight-war in the shipping trade from Europe to Calcutta
has been to the general disadvantage of the iron and steel industry of

C 55 )

the province. The rates from Glasgow or Liverpool to Calcutta dropped
in 1905 to less than half the figures ruling in 1900. Thus: —

January 1900 — Glasgow to Calcutta.

Iron and steel, 20s. per ton and 10 per cent, primage.

April 1905.
Iron and steel, 9s. Qd. per ton.

with a corresponding drop for other classes.

This of course means that the area over which the Bengal firms can
compete at an advantage due to tariff becomes more limited, for during
the same psriod the railway tariffs have remained practically unchanged.

In this country the local industry is specially dependent on the Govern-
ment, as with the Public Works and almost all the railways directly under
its control, it is by far the largest consumer of all classes of iron and steel
goods. This can be seen at a glance from Tables V and VI, Chapter II,
which show that Government takes about as much as the total private
trade. Government has gradually given to the local firms a larger share
of its orders, though the protracted deliberation before each concession has
been made — and this only after the earnest protestation of the firms
concerned — has produced in many quarters the feeling that Government
has not really at heart the welfare of such local firms, but would prefer to
continue as of old to place all its orders in England through the Stores
Department of the India Office. The Government Resolutions giving" a
share of Government orders to the local trade were issued in the years
1883 and 1898; in 1891 a Resolution was issued which was regarded in
many quarters as a drawingback from the policy inaugurated in 1883, but
since 1898 the policy adopted has been more liberal. In 1900 an exten-
sion of the concession of 1898 was made which was much appreciated in
certain quarters. Since that date local firms have been allowed to
compete for a certain fraction of the wagon-supply for Government and
guaranteed railways.

The problems of pig-iron and steel production must be considered
separately. There is still a very large quantity of pig-iron imported into
the Province for foundry purposes, and the local firm producing foundry
pig could legitimately hope to secure the greater portion of this trade.
There is, however, among the local engineering firms an objection to the
Barakar pig, on the ground that fine and intricate castings cannot be
made with any certainty in this iron. On the other hand the Barakar
firm itself makes fine and intricate castings with ease from its own iron,
and the management is quite willing to show the representative of any
engineering firm over the foundry to see such castings being actually made
there ; and it also maintained that the analysis of Barakar pig shows it
to be quite suitable for the finest class of foundry work.

For the demand for foundry pig there is a limit: if, however, the
manufacture of steel once had a proper start in this country, the limit of
the demand for pig-iron would then be enormously extended. The produc-
tion of steel in Bengal already has a history. A small Siemens acid-lined
furnace was first erected at Cossipore in 1832 under the direction of
Major-General (then Captain) Mahon, R.A., anl since that date steel has

( 56 )

been successfully manufactured at Cossipore. Recently the productive
capacity has been increased by the erection of two 10-ton furnaces of the
same acid open-hearth type, and now the factory is capable of turning
out from 40 to 60 tons of steel per day. This amount is, as a matter
of fact, not at present produced, as the factory itself does not always
require this quantity, and arrangements have not yet been made for the
disposal of the excess. At Jamalpur also a certain amount of steel is
produced by the acid open-hearth process. This process cannot, however,
be considered as the proper one for the thorough development of the
iron and steel industry of the country. What is required is a steel-making
process, using country-made pig as the chief material; and owing to the
quality of the average ores of Bengal, the average pig produced is not
sufficiently pure for use in the acid-hearth furnace. The basic open-hearth
type is undoubtedly the furnace required for the production of high class
steel in large quantity in this province, as by this process the country-
made pig can be used as the chief material for the furnace charge and
the steel can be made systematically and certainly with a composition
lying between very narrow limits. The Barakar works attempted the
manufacture of steel by this process in 1904 putting down a plant capable
of producing 20,000 tons per annum, but after the loss of more than
£50,000, the experiment was stopped. There appears in this case to
have been initial difficulties especially in getting suitable foremen from
Europe for the work, but the General Manager of the work' sexplains the
faihire of the experiment as largely due to its not receiving the expected
support from the Government. He says : —

" In 1901 our Home Board opened negotiations with the India Office with pro-
posals to put down a steel plant to make 20,000 tons per nunum of basic steel
provided that quality of steel would be accepted and support be given by Govern-
ment in the disposal of the product of the plant. It was expected that the bulk
of the work which would be turned out at the steel works would be rails, that
being the largest requirement of the Government of India, but the advisers of the
India Office were opposed to large section rails being accepted if made of basic steel,
and we were th-refore limited to metre-gauge rails and under. Subject to the steel
produced being of suitable quality, Government promised substantial support to the
undertaking and encouraged the Company to put down the plant. A subsily of
£1,500 wai paid to us, but a rebate of Es. 3 per ton had to be given to Govern-
ment on all steel purchased up to the equivalent of the subsidy.

"A plant to make 20,000 tons per annum was aocordingly laid down, and opera-
tions were commenced at the end of 1904. An excellent quality of steel was made
of which early samples were sent to Sibpur and Jarralpur workshops (East Indian
Eailway) to bo tested, and in each case w-as most favourably reported upon. But
although our tteel was made to the best home specifications and was actually passed
and accepted on a par with such, the support given to us by Goven ment was so
meagre that to fiud an outlet for our production we were compelled to go into a
line of work, viz., miscellaneous small merchant sections, which was unsuitable for
many reasons and at once brought us int j competition with foreign * dumped ' steel.
During the period that the mills were running, 136 different sections in all were
rolled.

"We had expectel that, looking to the large quantity of rails aonually imported
into India, we could safely reckm on getting orders for the major part of the out-
put of the steel works in the shape of rails of suitable sections to allow of the
mills being kept on one section for a reasonable length of time. We did not get a
single order for rails during the wholo time the steel works were working! Instead

we received orders from Government for about 600 tons of steel in all, from first to
last, and to roll off the orders nearly 70 charges of rolls had to be made, and our
cost of executing such orders was out of all proportion to their value."

The great advantage to the country which would result from the
proper development of steel production cannot be too strongly emphasised.
At present the engineering firms of the province import practically all
their raw material, certainly all their wrought-iron and steel, and thus
the country pays shipping tariff on all its iron and steel work, whether
it is executed by local firms or not. The establishment of the manufac-
ture of steel on a proper footing would of course prevent all this. The
whole of the iron and steel work required by the province might come
from iron ore found in the province itself and available at a much cheaper
rate than in Europe. It could be converted into pig-iron in local blast
furnaces, and subsequently into steel in local steel furnaces, giving a large
additional field for labour, and saving for the country all the money
now lost on shipping tariff. In fact, the production of steel from country
pig appears to be the advance which is now required in the local industry
above all others. This would give a satisfactory basis to the industry,
and the different branches could then develop with a much greater feeling
of security.

APPENDIX.
SOURCES FROM WHICH INFORMATION HAS BEEN OBTAINED.

I. — Personal investigations in and near Calcutta and Howrab, including -visits
to the works of Messrs. Burn & Co., Ld., Messrs. Jessop & Co., Ld.,
Messrs. Martin & Co., Messrs. J. H. King & Co., and the Govern-
ment factories at Cossipore and Ishapore.

II. — Tour in the province, including visits to Hooghly, Bnrdwan, Barakar, Monghyr,
Bhagalpur, Dumka, Suri, Dubrajpur, Hetampur, Murshidabad, Patna,
Darjeeliag.

HI. — Reports of District Officers.

IV — Information especially communicated by W. Steele, Esq., of Messrs. Burn & Co.,
Ld., W. MacFarlane, Esq., General Manager of the Bengal Iron and Steel
Co., Ld , and Major Bell, Superintendent, Government Gun and Shell
Factory, Cossipore, for which I tender my best thanks.

V. — The Economic Section of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, (a) the collections,
(6) the files, which were kindly placed at my disposal by the Superintendent,
J. H. Burkill, Esq. ; the Archaeological Gallery, Indian Museum.

VI.— The following books and papers : —

Monograph on Indian Arms and Armour by B. H. Baden Powell, C.I.B.

(No. 53 of the Journal of Indian Art, vol. VI).

Indian and Oriental Armour by Right Hon'ble Lord Egerton of Tatton.
The Antiquities of Orissa by Rajendralal Mitra.
Buddha Gay a by Rajendralal Mitra.
The Stupa of Barhut by A. Cunningham.
Tree and Serpent Worship by J. Fergusson.
The Cave Temples of India by Fergusson and Burgess.
The Musnud of Murshidabad by P. C. Majumdar.
Murray's Hand-book to India, Burma and Ceylon.
Wilson's Translation of the Rig Veda.
The Brhat Sanhita, translated by Kern. Journal Royal Asiatic Society,

N. S. VI, p. 81,etseq.

The History, Antiquities, Topography and Statistics of Eastern India,
compiled from Survey Reports by Dr. Francis Buchanan, 1807-1813.
Kittoe. Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. VIII, p. 14*.
Babington. Ditto ditto, vol. XII, p. 164.

Welby Jackson. Ditto ditto, vol. XIV, p. 754.

Dr. Oldham. Ditto ditto, vol. XXIII, p 279.

Report by Dr. Oldham in " Selections from the Records of the Bengal

Government," vol. VIII, 1853.
Report by Dr. J. Shortt in " Selections from the Records of the Bengal

Government," vol. XXIII, p. 184.
Geology of Darjeeling District by F. R. Mallet (Memoirs Geological

Survey of India, vol. XI, 1874).
The Raijarh and Hinjir Coal Field by V. Ball (Records of the Geological

Survey of India, vol. VIII, 1875).
Geology of the Rajmahal Hills by V. Ball (Mem. G. S. I., vol. XIII,

pt. 2, p. 87, 1877).

Dr. Oldham. Mem. G. S. I., vol. 1, 1859.

A Manual of the Geology of India, vol. Ill, Economic Geology by
V. Ball.

Chota Nagpur by F. B. Bradley-Birt.

Ethnology of India by E. G. Latham.

History of India by Hon'ble Mountstuart Elpbinstone.

Manu's Code, translated by Sir W. Jones.

Indian Agriculture by E. Wallace.

The Farm Manual by A. 0. Williams and D. J. Meagher.

Census of Bengal, 1901.

Eeports on Trade carried by Eail and Eiver in Bengal.

Annual Statements of the Trade and Navigation of British India.

Various Parliamentary Papers (United Kingdom).

Public Works Department Code from 1883 up to date.

Financial Eeview of Operations of Ordnance Factories in India, 1905-06.

East Indian Eailway Time-Table, February 1907.

EXPLANATION OF PLATES.

PLATE I. — Ancient weapons copied from sculptures at Udayagiri, Barhut, Buddha
Gaya and Amaravati.

Fig. 1.— Sword in sheath, worn by door-keeper from the Rani Nur Rock Cut
Temple, Udayagiri HilJ, Orissa. Original sculpture in Archaeological
Gallery, Indian Museum, Calcutta. Drawing in " Antiquities of
Orissa" hy R. L. Mitra. Plate XXIV, Fig. 94.

Fig. 2.— Sword in hand of a warrior from frieze in Rani Nur Rock Cut Temple.
Cast in Archaeological Gallery, Indian Museum, Calcutta. Photo-
graph in " Cave Temples of India " by Fergusson and Burgess.
Plate I.

Fig. 3. — Sword from same frieze as Fig. 2.

Fig. 4. — Sword in sheath worn by warrior. From Barhut. Cast in Archaeological
Gallery, Indian Museum, Calcutta. Photograph in " Stupa of
Barhut" by Cunningham. Plate XXXII, Fig. 1.

Fig. 5. — Sword in hand of Bhairava from Buddha Gaja. Drawing in " Buddha
Gaya " by R. L. Mitra. Plate XXVI, Fig. 2.

Fig. 6. —Sword in hand of Savita from Buddha Gaya. Drawing in " Buddha
Gaya." Plate XXXI, Fig. 1.

Fig. 7. — Sword from hand of a Goddess at Buddha Gaya. Op eit. Plate XXXI,
Fig. 3.

Fig. 8. — From same statae as Fig. 7.

Fig. 9. — Sword in hand of Bhairava from Buddha Gaya. Op cii. Plate XXXI,
Fig 4.

Fig. 10. — Sword in hand of Vagisvari Devi from the temple of Vagiavari Devi,
Buddha Gaya. Op cif. Plate XXXII, Fig. 2.

Fig. 11. — Shield from same frieze as Fig. 2.

Fig. 12. — From same statue as Fig. 5.

Fig. 13. — Discus ftom same statue as Fig. 5.

Fig. 14. — Battle Axe. In statue of Maya Devi from Buddha Gaya now in Indian
Museum, Calcutta. Op tit. Plate XXIX.

Fig. 15. — From same statue as Figs. 7 and 8. Battle Axe.

Fig. 1 6. — Bow taken from sculpture on a pillar at Buddha Gaya. Cast of pillar in
Archaeological Gallery, Indian Museum, Calcutta. Photograph in
" Buddha Gaya." Plate L.

Figs, la to Pa. — All from sculptures in the Great Outer R iil of Amravati Tope,
and illustrated in " Tree and Serpent Worship " by J. Fergusson.

Fig. la.— Spear. Op eit. Plate LIX. Photograph.

Fig. 2a. — Sword. Op Git. Plate LX. Photograph

Fig. 3a.— Sword or dagger. Op eit. Plate LXI. Photograph.

Fig. 4a. — Bow. Op eit. Plate LXI. Photograph.

Fig. 5a.— Op eit. Plate LXI. Photograph.

Fig 6a.— Sword or dagger. Op eit. Plate LXVI. Lithograph.

Fig. 7a.— Spear. Op eit. Plate LXVI. Lithograph.

Fig. 8a.— Javelin. Op eit. Plate LXVI. Lithograph.

Fig. 9a.— Shield. Op cii. Plate LXIX Lithograph.

PLATE II. — Ancient weapons from sculptures at Bhuvanesvara (copied from Anti-
quities of Orissa by Rajendralal Mitra. Plates XXIX, XXI II and
XX).
Fig. 1. — Lancet-headed dagger from Bhuvanesvara. Op eit. Plate XXIX,

Fig. 184.
Fig. 2.— Dao or bill-hook from Bhuvanesvara. Op eit. Plate XXIX, Fig 200.

Fig. 3. — Straight sword in scabbard, common in Bhuvanesvara. Op cit. Plate

XXIX, Fijr. 183.
4. — Double-bladed sword from Bhuvanesvara. Op cit. Plate XXIX,

Fig. 178.
5. — Double-bladed sword from Bhuvanesvara. Op cit. Plate XXIX,

Fig. 179.
Fig. 6. — Broad straight sword (broken) from Bhuvanesvara. Op cit. Plate

XXIX, Fig. 180.

Fig. 7.— Jagged sword, straight-blade and handle from Bhuvanesvara. Op cit.

Plate XXIX, Fig. 181.
Fig. 8. — Straight sword, lancet-head, from Bhuvanesvara. Op cit. Plate XXIX,

Fig. 182.
Fig. 9. — Nepalese knife or kukri from Bhuvanesvara. Op cii. Plate XXIX,

Fig. 186.
Fig. 10. — Deer-head handled dagger from Bhuvanesvara. Op cit. Plate XXIX,

Fig. 185.

fig, 11. — Ganesa's battle-axe from Bhuvanesvara. Op cit. Plate XXIX, Fig. 187.
Fig. 12. — Dattle-axe broad blade from Bhuvanesvara. Op cit. Plate XXIX,

Fig. 188.
Fig. 13. —Curved bladed battle-axe from Bhuvanesvara. Op cit. Plate XXIX,

Fig. 189.

pig 14, — Discus from Bhuvanesvara. Op cit. Plate XXIX, Fig. 199.
Fig. 15.— Short club from Bhuvanesvara. Op cit. Plate XXIX, Fig. 201.
Fig. 16. — Long club from Bhuvanesvara. Op cit. Plate XXIX, Fig. 2U2.
Fig. 17.— Triangular dagger from Bhuvanesvara. Op ci'. Plate XXIX, Fig. 205.
Fig. 18. — Bow from Bhuvanesvara. Op cit. Plate XXIX, Fig. 203.
Fig. 19. — Warrior clad in coat of mail and helmet from Araravafi. Op cit.

Plate XXIII, Fig. 91.

Fig. 20.— Club from Bhuvanesvara. Op cit. Plate XXIX, Fig. 206.
Fig. 21. — Short javelin from Bhuvanesvara. Op cit. Plate XXIX, Fig. 204.
Fig. 22.— Copied from Plate XX, No. 65c. Cast of same in Archaeological

Gallery, Indian Museum, Calcutta. Short sword or dagger.
Fig. 23. — Copied from Plate XX, No. 65b. Cast of same in Archceologioal

Gallery, Indian Museum, Calcutta, described by B. L. Mitra as a

Khanda or broad Indian sacrificial sword.

PLATE III—

Fig. 1. — Pageant shield from Kanarak, copied from Antiquities of Orissa. Plate

XXX, Fig. 218.

Fig. 2. — Two spears in the armoury of the Palace of Murshidabad —

(a) Pesbro bullum, a famous spear supposed to have been made before

the Christian) era, and taken by the Muhammadans on
conquering the country.

(b) Spear probably made A. D. 1700 — 1750, ornamented with design

in low relief of elephant, tiger and leopard.
PLATE IV—

Fig. 1.— " The Bachawali Tope," an old gun lying at Murshidabad and supposed

to have been made A. D. 1200—1400.
Fig. 2. — " The Jahan Kosha," an old gun lying at Murshidabad aud made in

1637 A. D.

PLATE V. — Ancient weapons from -the armouries of the Palaces of Murshidabad and
Burdwan —

Fig. 1. — Pata, a spear used in Muhammadan festival processions (Murshidabad

Palace) .

Fig. 2. — Saang, a kind of spear (Murshidabad Palace).
Fig. 3. — An old gun made at Kamarpara near Burdwan and used in a battle

against the English in 1761 (Burdwan Palace).

Fig. 4. — Sword made at Bhagalpur (Murshidabad Palace).

Fig. 5. — Tega Burdwani, an executioner's sword made at Burdwan (Murehidabad

Palace).

Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 13. — Spears in the armoury at Murshidabad.
Fig. 10. — A spear known as bichhu (Burdwan Palace).

PLATE VI. — Iron smelting by the Native process near Dumka in the Sonthal

Parganas —
Fig. 1. — Photograph of the furnace in blast showing method of working the

bellows, etc.
Fig. 2. — Diagrammatic bird's-eye view of the furnace.

PLATE VII—

Fig. 1. — Blacksmith's shop at Monghyr, showing simplest form of hearth and

bellows. The blacksmith is a typical Lohar.
Fig. 2. — Blacksmith's shop at Dubrajpur, district Birbhum, showing more elaborate

hearth.

PLATH VIII. — Gran-making in Monghyr —

Fig. 1. — Boring a barreL

Fig. 2. — Showing various stages in the making of a gun —

(a) The hamtnered-out-strips used for making a barrel with the simple-
twist marking.

(6) A bundle of alternate iron and steel strips to be hammered out into

a strip.

(d) An assortment of borers and handle.

PLATE IX—

Fig. 1.— A cutler's shop at Burdwan, showing grinding- wheel and method of

driving this. The cutler is a typical Kamar.
Fig. 2. — The tools used in sheet-metal work, e.g., for making a ghara—

(1) A completed ghara.

(2) Iron club fixed in ground used as a rest for tightening rivets.

(3) Curved anvil for hammering sheet into shape.

(4) A completed ghara in vertical section to show structure of neck.

(5) and (6) Wooden mallets for hammering sheet into shape.

(7) and (8) Iron hammers.

(9) Iron hammers for work inside the ghara.

(10) Pincers or pliers.

(11) Chisel-pointed compass for describing circles on the ghara.

(12) and (13) Small iron clubs held in the hand for hammering down a

rivet from the inside of the ghara.
PLATB X. — Agricultural implements, commonly made by the village blacksmith—

Fig. 1.— Iron tip for plough share — usual type.

Fig. 2. — Ditto seen from edge.

Fig. 3.— Ditto another type.

Fig. 4. — Iron hooks for yoke of bullock-cart.

Fig. 5. — Hub of bullock-cart wheel, showing parts made of iron (shaded).

Figs. 6 and 7. — Kodalis.

Fig. 8. — Pick-axe with two points, gainti.

Fig. 9. — One-pointed pick, kanka.

Figs. 10, 11, 12 and 13. — Various forms of kaohia, sickle-shaped implement with

teeth.

Figs. 14 and 15. — Hassua, sickle-shaped implement without teeth.
^ Fig. 16. — (jaraser, an implement for chopping straw.

Figs. 17 (a) and 17 (6), — An axe which can be used in two ways — kurdli or tanga.
Fig. 18. — The ordinary axe, kurdli or tango.

Fig. 19.— An implement for cutting gracs, kurpa.

Fig. 20. — A form of kurpa for weeding.

Fig. 21. — Nironee, a wee'ding tool.

Figs. 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30.— Various forms of the bill-hook

or dao.
PLATE XI. — Cooking utensils, commonly made by the village blacksmith —

Figs. 1, 2 and 3. — Different forms of portable fire-grate or ungati.

Fig. 4. — Portable oven, tezal.

Fig. 5. — Tawa, for baking bread.

Fig. 6. — Large spoon, kulchhul, used for cooking rice.

Fig. 7. — Stirrer used in cooking, k/ianti.

Fig. 8. — Jhditjhdrd, perforated spoon for lifting sweetmeats from the frying-pan.

Figs. 9 and 10. — Knives for cutting goats' flesh, etc., chlmri.

Fig. 11.— Implement for cutting vegetables and fish, lanthi.

Fig. 12. — Ditto ornamental, with cocoanut scraper, kurunt.

Figs. 13 and 14. — Djles, vessels for taking water from the well.

Fig. 15. — Qhara or gagra, water-pitcher of sheet-iron.

PLATE XII. — Weapons and miscellaneous articles prepared by the blacksmith —
Figs. 1, 2 and 3. — Betelnut cutter, janti.
Fig. 4. — Eajrotcfa, small spoon with lid, for preparing and keeping black ointment

for eyes of children.
Fig. 5. — Bird-cage, pinjra.
Fig. 6.— Rat-trap.
Fig. 7. — An ingenious padlock, i&ld.
Fig. 8. — Jhugra, a bundle of hooks, used to recover water-vessels which havo

dropped into wells.

Figs. 9 and 10. — Kukrts — Fig. 9, especially large and ornamented.
Fig. 11. — Eatari, a weapon made in Darjeeling.
Fig. 12. — The Lepchha knife or ban.
Figs. 13 and 14. — Battle-axes.
Fig. 15. — Sacrificial knife (very large), klianra.
Figs. 16, 17 and 18. — Arrows.

Fig. 19. — A three-pronged arrow used for catching gariyal.
Fig. 20. — Club-headed arrow for hitting birds.
Fig. 21. — Arrow for catching fish.
Fig. 22. — Circular shield of hammered steel, Sonthdl, copied from The Journal of

Indian Art. Vol. VI, Plate 84, Fig. 11.

PLATE XIII. — Ornamental designs executed on steel weapons by Bengal blacksmiths —
Fig. 1. — Ornamentation on the large kukri, shown in Plate XII, Fig. 9 (chased).
Figs. 2, 3 and 4. — Brass inlaid designs on a small kukri made by a Darjeeling

kdmi.

Fig. 5.— Chased ornamentation on a sacrificial axe.
Figs. 7 and 8. — Designs on old sacrificial knives kept in temples on the estate of

the Raja of Hetampur.
Fig. 9. — Ornamentation on a sacrificial knife recently made by a blacksmith in

Dubrajpur, district Birbhum.

B. 8. Press-S-7.1907— 27.94— 600 -E. J. H.

WEAPONS OF ANCIENT BENGAL

ABOUT.150.B.C.

PLATE. I.

300-400.A.D.

Ko 437E.. Under Secy.. Govt , Bengal.— Jan 06 —400

o.. S. I O., Calcutta

PLATE. II.

WEAPONS OF ANCIENT BENGAL

ABOUT 650.A.D.

Copied from Antiquities of Orissaty R.L.Mrtra — Scale not specified.

He «27B., Under 8«jr GOT!.. Bentml.-Jan at— too.

Eeiio., S. X. O..

PLATE III.

fit-. ••.

Photogravure .

Survey of India Officet.CaJeutU-Februara; 1908.

PLATE IV.

Fl£ 1. THE BACHAWALI TOPE. 120O-1400. A.D.

Fi£ 2. JAHAN KOSHA. 1637. A. D.

Survtj of India OfBc^i C Jcutt. Frbm»rv 1908.

PLATE. V.

WEAPONS OF ANCIENT BENGAL
1700-1750.A.D.

Scale 2 hiche« =1 R>ot.

i,?£ . Uodw Secy . Go»t =V-oi-.J — Jao 06 -- *»

o., S I. O . Calcutta

.-
*••

PLATE VI.

Tif. 1. IRON- SMELTIXG IX THE SOUTHAL PARGAKAS.

BIRD'S -EYE VIEW OF FURNACE.
ScJe 1 Inch 1 Foot,

Survey of India Offices. Calcutta Frim«ry:1906.

PLATE VII.

Fig: 1-

Photogravure.

Survejr of India Offices. Cmlcuua, Febru wy 1908.

PLATE Vffl.

?*-' &&

-•' •

Fij: 1. GUN- MAKING IN MONGHYK.

Photogravure

Survry of Indim Offi<?e».CalciitlA.Februaij. 1908.

PLATE IX.

10 . 11

Scale 2 Inche«-l Toot.

Photo gramw.

Surrey of India. Offices. CmlrattrnJebruuylSOe.

PLATE. X .

AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.

i Haioral Sue
Scale 2 Inches =1 Foot. Exceptions specified.

He 4ZTE . Under a*cy-, Gort.. Bengal —Jan Of — Ml'

E«bo . S. X O-. Calcutta

PLATE. XI.

COOHNG UTENSILS.

Scale 2 Inches =lFbot.

Ee 427 1 nnd^r Stcy O-5rt

Eelio-, y. 1 O.,

PLATE.Xn.

WEAPONS AND MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES.

" Natural Size
JL

19 20

Scale 2Inc1ies!=lFoot Exceptions specified

Wo. m £,., Uu3»r Secy., Govt., Bengal. — Jan. 06 — 600.

Helio., 8. 1. O., Calcutta.

ORNAMENTAL DESIGNS ON STEEL.

PLATE. XIII.

Natural Size

No «7E.. nnderSecy., Oovt.. Ben««l — I»o 06 -«00.

B«lio.. 8. 1. O., CaJcatta

~ £&?*&&

A!?^»*ii .«•«••**•

t^r^^SSS^

305884

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