76 OKHAMANDAL MARINE ZOOLOGY— PART II 



on the Okhamandal coast itself, and if this were to prove inadequate, it could be supple- 

 mented by supplies drawn from other parts of the coastline of Kathiawar. 



The supply being therefore assured, the chank-sawing industry might be developed 

 along either of two lines, either the shells might be sawn into working sections and these 

 exported to Bengal in this partly manufactured state, or the finished bangle might be 

 produced. With provision of a power machine suitable for cutting sections, this could 

 readily be adapted to do smoothing, carving, and polishing, so that an intelligent workman 

 — especially if he be one having some knowledge of lapidary work — if he were given a 

 series of simple patterns to begin with and direction how to use the machine he has to 

 handle, should have no insuperable difficulty in doing passable work in the course of 

 a few weeks. Once he acquires a command over his machine and the ability to carve 

 simple patterns, the power to attack more complicated patterns — such as those depicted 

 on Plate VII — would soon come. As to a market, Bengal has now increased so greatly 

 in population that the chank-bangle workers there begin to find difficulty in obtaining 

 a sufficient supply of the raw material, so even if no local demand should develop in 

 Okhamandal, the Bengal market would absorb readily all that an Okhamandal workshop 

 would be likely to produce for years to come. It seems, extremely probable, however, 

 that a more remunerative local demand may be counted upon to develop concurrently 

 with the progress of the industry. Many thousands of pilgrims resort to the holy shrines 

 of Bet and Dwarka annually and these people, who value the chank shell as one of the 

 emblems both of Vishnu and Krishna, as a vessel for use in their household religious 

 ceremonies and, in many cases, as a curious souvenir of a memorable pilgrimage, would, 

 I believe, esteem still more a handsome ornament made from this shell for their women- 

 folk, particularly if judicious efforts were made to draw attention to the appropriateness 

 of such an ornament on the hands of Hindu ladies ; the beauty of its pattern, its snow- 

 white colour — emblem of purity — and its general superiority to the gaudy glass bangles 

 of European manufacture that not infrequently inflict serious wounds on the wrist 

 when they are accidentally broken. Patriotic preference for a home-made ornament, 

 especially when backed up by the more solid advantages of greater real beauty and 

 greater strength and lasting property, should also count for much. Lastly, a most 

 valuable potential market for high-priced chank bangles certainly exists in Bombay, 

 Karachi, and other great cities where European and American tourists are to be found 

 in yearly increasing numbers. These people are all eager to take home some " curios- 

 ities " of the East, preferably such as are not too bulky ; from my own knowledge 

 I can say that well-carved chank bangles do appeal greatly to these visitors from abroad 

 and it is only lack of entei-prise on the part of Bengal chank bangle manufacturers that 

 has prevented the exploitation of this promising field. Time after time people who have 

 seen the chanlv bangles in my collection have expressed their desire to purchase — a desire 

 baulked by the fact that none are to be had in any shops visited by tourists in any city 

 in India. 



