.1EYP0RE ART WORK. 263 



room of which is crowded with Indian art goods. Some 

 things are really beautiful. Most of the metal-work is 

 richly inlaid with gold, silver, or coloured enamels. There 

 were the usual handsome carpets and embroideries, and 

 many pulkaris, or cotton cloths, which the native women 

 cover with harmoniously-toned silk designs, so closely 

 worked that it almost gives the effect of a rich brocade. 

 This relates only to those carefully finished for their own 

 use, which are not often offered for sale. The common 

 ones are roughly turned out, and made only to sell cheaply 

 to the tourist. 



One Jeypore speciality is a large hammered brass tray, 

 covered with bold repoussi patterns. Placed on carved 

 wooden legs, this makes a charming little tea-table. We 

 bought specimens of everything, amongst others a large 

 fakir's lotah. An ordinary lotah is a small brass pot which 

 every native carries to drink out of. The fakir, a holy 

 mendicant subsisting on what he begs or steals, has a lotah 

 some two feet high and proportionately big. He takes 

 this round from door to door to collect handfuls of flour 

 or other food. Usually they are of plain brass, but my 

 lotah is chased all over with a flower pattern, enclosing 

 deeply-engraved pictures of Indian life. At the risk of 

 being thought a vandal I am going to have it silvered, 

 which the natives do cheaply and well. They ask how 

 many rupees thick, and you give them the number you 



