100 
As an offset to these favourable factors is the 
tendency among the women of the better classes to 
discontinue as far as possible the use of chank bangles 
in order to emphasize their disassociation from low-caste 
customs, and in the endeavour to be more ‘fashionable’ 
in the style of their personal ornaments; they wish 
where possible to procure gold bracelets and where their 
means will not allow of this they too often prefer to wear 
gaudy glass bangles of European make. 
In Dacca and Calcutta labour in the less skilled 
branches of the industry is abundant and wages are low 
in consequence. Highly skilled men can however 
command good pay and were they of a_ provident 
disposition ‘they should be very well off. 
At the small centres located in country districts, 
remuneration and conditions of labour are greatly 
superior to those prevailing in the large towns. There 
is a fairly regular and stable local demand to rely upon, 
the necessaries of life are cheaper, and temptations to 
waste earnings in outbursts of self-indulgence are few ; 
the open surroundings also conduce to a healthier tone 
both of mind and body than dothe slums of Dacca. 
Best of all, in many places the bangle-maker has some 
agricultural occupation to afford other interests in life, 
to give a healthful change from the monotony of a 
sedentary occupation and a means whereby his savings 
may be put to remunerative account. [n one district I 
found the local Sankharis engaged in tobacco cultiva- 
tion as a secondary occupation. Elsewhere I found 
many of these bangle-cutters cultivating plots of paddy 
or of jute inthe season. ‘The relative importance of the 
two callings varies considerably as is natural, but they 
are larg cely complemental, as there are so many intervals 
in small cultivation after the crop has been sown when 
the fields require almost no attention that a Sankhari 
has no difficulty in carrying on both satisfactorily. Under 
these circumstances, these men are quietly prosperous, 
they earn good wages from their chank trade, their 
fields supply almost all their food and their houses, 
fairly roomy and well-built and fairly well-ventilated, are 
made of grass thatch, walls as well as roof, while the 
supports and rafters are of bamboos which grow luxuri- 
antly everywhere around. Many families are reputed to 
possess good savings in cash, the money being buried 
