162 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



at. I have forgotten what that was now, but it was very- 

 little. Where fraud can come in with such a system of 

 valuation I don't know — in the quality of the silver perhaps ; 

 but for that, again, there are tests. 



These preliminaries settled, the man received the proper 

 number of rupees, which he took to the local jeweller in the 

 bazaar — that is, the native quarter in the town — not to buy 

 silver wire, but to exchange the money for its weight in the 

 wire — obviously simple, again. A peon was directed to go 

 with him. I thought it seemed far from nice-minded for 

 us to use such a point-blank precaution, making the poor 

 fellow feel himself suspected, and I wished to have the order 

 cancelled, but F. said that to do so would be to take half 

 the man's pleasure away, for that his feelings ran more likely 

 in quite another groove. Being given a peon for escort 

 would go far towards publishing his errand, and so add 

 lustre to his own name and that of his tribe generally. 

 Not that he would be above making off with a handful of 

 rupees at any other time — pluming himself, too, on con- 

 triving it. 



The wire procured, and two rather massive silver hooks 

 for the fastening, our blacksmith sat him down on the 

 bungalow steps — this by our wish — and set to work. He 

 began by choosing and unstringing one of the implements 

 on his own chain. As regards shape, this might have been 

 an ordinary and familiar crochet hook, but I never saw one 

 so exquisitely delicate ; and it had need to be, for the wire 

 was silken fine. With this his deft fingers formed a little 

 circlet about half an inch in diameter, then he went on 

 crocheting round and round till he had a stiff tube, about 

 eight inches long, of the closest stitches imaginable. Next 

 he fastened one of the hooks to the other end of the tube, 

 and fixed the hook in a small vice borrowed from the bazaar 

 jeweller, and began pulling steadily, slowly, and forcefully. 

 It was wonderful to watch the tube as it gradually gave and 



