NATURAL HISTORY. 



573 



head-Qian of the place. At Bid- 

 dery the jealousy against Euro- 

 peans 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 stationed in the fort. It hap- 

 pened fortunately that the chief of 

 that place had some favours to ask 

 of Captain Sydenham, and Mr. 

 Russell, his assistant, whose kind 

 assistance in promoting my inqui- 

 ries on this and all other occasions 

 I have gratefully to acknowledge : 

 so that I received the dustuk 

 without much delay, just as I as- 

 cended the table-land. On pro- 

 ducing it at Biddery some of the 

 manufacturers were immediately 

 sent to me in the choultry, under 

 a guard of peons, with the strictest 

 orders that they should inform me 

 of the whole and every part of 

 their mystery. 1 wished to go to 

 then- 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 complained of 

 want, in an employment which in 

 former times had been the means 

 of subsisting a numerous class of 

 their own cast, and of enriching 

 the place, but which now scarcely 

 yielded food for five families that 

 remained. They are of the gold- 

 smith cast, which, together with 

 some of other handicrafts, is the 

 lowest of all sudras, though they 

 wear the brahminical string. 



At their first visit they brought 

 nothing but a lump of their com- 

 pound used for casting their ware, 

 9a.d a few vessels which they had 

 just in hand, for inlaying them 

 with silver, an oj)eration wliicli 

 tliey conceived would be of all the 

 most attractive to a curious friiigi. 



As the metal in this state waii 

 divested of all but its natural 

 colour, I recognized it immedi- 

 ately as a compound of whicla its 

 greatest portion is tin. It coa- 

 tained of this metal twenty-four 

 parts, and one of copper, joined 

 by fusion. I was herein not a 

 little disappointed, as 1 had always 

 understood that it was made of a 

 metallic substance found on the 

 table-land of Biddery, and which, 

 as I never had made any experi- 

 ment with a view of discovering 

 its composition, I flattered myself 

 might be a new mineral. In 

 coming along I really had found 

 also a lithomarga, which resem- 

 bled the common Biddery ware in 

 colour and appearance ; and it 

 was probably this that had given 

 rise to the accovmt which former 

 travellers had given of that sub- 

 stance, 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 earthen 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 

 hooka-bottom J and some wax, 

 which probably had been used by 

 several generations for tlie purpose 

 for which it is yet employed. 



The first operatix)n was to cover 

 the form with wax on aU sides, 

 which was done by winding a 

 band, into which the wax was re- 

 duced, as close as possible round 

 it. A thin coat of clay was then 

 laid over the wil\, and, to fasten 

 the outer to the iniier clay form, 

 some iron pins were driven tlirough 



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