500 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



on a subject of the most indifferent 

 nature, without the concurrence 

 and actual support of the head 

 man of the place. At Biddery the 

 jealousy against Europeans of all 

 classes is carried so far, that none 

 are allowed to enter the gates of 

 the city, except such as are in the 

 service of the Nizam, and station- 

 ed in the fort. It happened fortu- 

 nately that the chief of that place 

 had some favours to ask of captain 

 Sydenham, and Mr. Russel, his 

 assistant, whose kind assistance in 

 promoting my inquiries on this 

 and all other occasions I have 

 gratefully to acknowledge : so that 

 I received the dustuck without 

 much delay, just as I ascended the 

 table-land. On producing it at 

 Biddery some of the manufacturers 

 were immediately sent to me in 

 the choultry, under a guard of 

 peans, with the strictest orders that 

 they should inform me of the whole 

 and every part of their mystery. I 

 •wished to go to their houses ; but 

 as this had not been mentioned in 

 the order, and as they lived in the 

 city, I could not obtain permission. 

 The men who attended me com- 

 plained of want, in an employment 

 which in former times had been 

 the means of subsisting a numerous 

 class of their own cast, and of en- 

 riching the place, but which now 

 scarcely yielded food to five fami- 

 lies that remained. They are of 

 the goldsmith cast, wiich, together 

 with some of other handicrafts, is 

 the lowest of all sooders, thougii 

 they wear the Brahminical string. 



At their first visit they brought 

 nothing but a lump of the com- 

 pound used for casting their ware, 

 and a few vessels which they had 

 just in hand for inlaying them with 

 silver, an operation which they 



conceived would be of all the most 

 attractive to a curious faringa. As 

 the metal in this state was divested 

 of all but its natural colour, I re- 

 cognized it immediately as a com- 

 pound of which the greatest pro- 

 portion is tin. It contained of this 

 metal 24? parts, and one of copper, 

 joined by fusion. I was herein not 

 a little disappointed, as I had al- 

 ways understood that it was made 

 of a metallic substance found oii 

 the table-land of Biddery, and 

 which, as I never had made any 

 experiment with a view of disco- 

 vering its composition, I flattered 

 myself might be a new mineral. 

 In coming along I really had found 

 also a lithamaga, which resembled 

 the common Biddery ware in co- 

 lour and appearance; and it was 

 probably this that had given rise 

 to the account which former tra- 

 vellers had given of that substance, 

 as the mineral used for the ware 

 manufactured at that place. 



The business of their second 

 visit was to cast, or to make, before 

 me a vessel of their ware. The 

 apparatus which they brought with 

 them on the occasion consisted of 

 a broken cutchery pot, to serve as 

 a furnace; a piece of bamboo about 

 a foot long as a bellows, or blow- 

 pipe ; a form made of clay, exactly 

 resembling a common hooker-bot- 

 tom ; and some wax, which pro- 

 bably had been used by several ge- 

 nerations for the purpose for which 

 it is yet employed. 



The first operation was to cover 

 the form with wax on all sides, 

 which was done by winding a band 

 into which the wax was reduced, 

 as close as possible round it. A 

 thin coat of clay was then laid 

 over the wax, and, to fasten the 

 outer to the inner clay form, some 



