Two Kind* 

 of HUM. 



CatUe- 



HIDES 

 THE CHUMARS OR SKINNERS AND SKINS 



(imports and exports, less re-export^) of Us. 15,94,66,392 (or 10,631,093), 

 uii'l thus of an estimated total traffic- >t over tw< millions 



tterli 



fluctuations. But there are a few aspects of imp ,ut had Traders. 



r be here indicated. For example, the trade in hides and skins, as also 

 tin- i raft in leather manufacture, are in the hands either of Muhammadans 

 or of low-caste Hindus. They are, therefore, participated in by a com- 

 :vdy small community. So again the workers in skins, hides and 

 leather are in Northern Imiia collectively designated chirmfaroah. 'I 

 there are two main classes of hides and skins : hallali (slaughtered), 

 inurtldri (dead). The former come from the slaughter-houses of the cities, 

 flic latter from the country. The chumars (the special caste of skinners) 

 wander about all over the country, and make it their business to .-kin 

 <lcud cattle. In seasons of scarcity and famine they reap a rich harvest, 

 hut it is often affirmed that they are unscrupulous and, when they do 

 obtain a sufficient supply, that they are not averse to systematically 

 poisoning cattle. With them, in fact, cattle-poisoning is held to be a pro- 

 on, and to have attained the position of a high art (see Abrus, p. 1). 

 Moreover, it is believed that a large proportion of the cattle that perish 

 in India die from preventable causes, such as neglect, drought and mur- 

 rain. The loss to the country of a large percentage of its cattle far out- 

 weighs the total value of the traffic in skins and hides, so that the in- 

 creasing exports in these articles are only too frequently the most certain 

 indication of widespread suffering and loss. The traffic in hides and skins 

 is accordingly subject to great fluctuations, concomitant with the vicis- 

 situdes of the seasons. The famine in Western India, during the years 

 of 1899-1901, caused the traffic to become abnormally high, especially 

 in untanned hides, but, due to the war in South Africa, the prices were 

 at the same time preserved. The exports for each of those years were 

 nearly double the normal traffic, but the demand was, nevertheless, brisk. 

 The difficulty to procure capital an ever-present cause of obstruction 

 to all manufacturing enterprise in India is doubly true of the leather 

 trades. Religious objection assigns it a position of degradation and 

 neglect. It became accordingly a monopoly within a restricted com- 

 munity, and thus not only suffers from want of capital but from the loss 

 of invigorating competition and popular interest and favour. 



Foreign Trade. The exports to foreign countries from the chief 

 seaports of India are drawn from the provinces by rail, road and river, 

 as also coastwise by sea. These may be analysed as follows : 



Kallborne, etc. ^Unfortunately a difficulty is at once presented, viz. the rail- Local 

 borne and the coastwise transactions are recorded in cwt. It is thus next to Trade. 

 impossible to obtain a factor by which to reduce these to numbers of hides as 

 in the returns of foreign trade, since the goods vary so greatly according to 

 species of animal, size and condition, nature of curing or tanning pursued, 

 etc., etc. The figures as they stand are, however, relatively of value : During 

 1906-7 the railways of India carried 2,517,787 cwt. of hides and skins (raw 

 and tanned), the bulk being raw. Of that large amount 1,126,302 cwt. were 

 conveyed to CALCUTTA and were drawn from Bengal Province, 350,953 cwt. ; 

 fniu the United Provinces, 354,804 cwt; from the Pan jab, 103,855 cwt. ; 

 ti"ia the Central Provinces and Berar, 57,056 cwt.; from Madras, 13,974 cwt.; 

 from E. Bengal and Assam, 232,036 cwt. ; from Rajputana and Central India, 

 I cwt. ; and from Bombay, 4,816 cwt. The next most important receiving 

 "litres are the MADRAS PORTS, which, in t he year in question, drew 520,856 

 cwt., namely from the Madras Presidency, 330,5 12 cwt. ; Mysore, 38,398 cwt. ; Supply, 

 the Nizam's Territory, 44,951 cwt. ; Bombay, 56,901 cwt. ; Central Provinces, 



633 



goffering. 

 Famine. 



Difficulty 

 to obtain 



Capital. 



Supply. 



