104 
the widely spread Kochh tribe in their two principal 
sub-divisions of Rajbansi and Paliya. It is largely to 
supply the women of this tribe with their characteristic 
ornaments that the chank bangle workshops in Dinajpur 
and Rangpur exist as in these districts the tribe has its 
chief settlement with an approximate total of one million 
individuals. Kuch Behar and Jalpaiguri account for 
another half million, while considerable numbers are 
found also in Purnia, Maldah, the Darjeeling Terai, 
30ogra, Murshidabad, Nadiya and Dacca. The Rajbansi 
and Paliya gauntlets are composed usually of ten sepa- 
rate bangles. As the wearers belong largely to the 
labouring and agricultural classes, the bangles forming 
these gauntlets are broad and thick, frequently without 
any ornament whatever ; where decoration is attempted, 
it consists of simple line patterns made of shallow 
groovings which impair very little the strength of the 
bangle and yet are very effective and elegant (Text-figure 
2). Neither are they usually polished, hence dead shells 
from Jaffna are largely employed in this manufacture, 
although inferior shells of the better qualities from the 
Indian side are also extensively made use of. 
TEXT-FIGURE 2, 
GAUNTLET PATTERN OF COMPOUND BRACELET WORN BY PALIYA WOMEN, RENGAL. 
