ORIENTAL IVORY CARVINGS 105 



Khati caste; they are exceedingly painstaking in their work, 

 which is slowly and carefully executed. 



Of this special industry Mr. Kipling treats as follows: 

 *'0f equal and, indeed, superior importance as an industry 

 which may be expected to support skilled workmen is the 

 wood-inlay of ivory and brass of the District. The exten- 

 sion of this trade to articles of European use is mainly due 

 to the efforts of Mr. Coldstream, C. S. For many years 

 pen-cases, walking-staves, mirror-cases, and the low chauki, 

 or octagonal table common in the Pan jab and probably of 

 Arab introduction, have been made here in shisham-wood 

 inlaid with ivory and brass. The patterns were very minute 

 and covered nearly the whole of the surface with an equal 

 spottiness. Mr. Coldstream procured its application to 

 tables, cabinets, and other objects, and during recent years 

 a trade has sprung up which seems likely to grow to still 

 larger proportions. The faults of the inlay are a certain 

 triviality and insignificance of design and its too equal and 

 minute distribution. At various times some of the inlayers 

 have visited Lahore, and have been shown at the School of 

 Art examples of good Arabic and Indian design, and they 

 have frequently been furnished with sketches. When the 

 blackness and ugliness of an Indian village are considered 

 it is really matter for surprise that decorative invention 

 survives in any form. There are numbers of artisans, many 

 of whom are in the hands of a Hindu dealer who is naturally 

 but little concerned in the artistic quality of the wares 

 he sells. Blackwood, the old heart-wood of the Kunum 

 {Diospyros tomentosa), incorrectly called abnus or ebony by 

 the workmen, is occasionally used both as a ground, and in 

 combination with ivory, as an inlaying material, especially 

 in the familiar herring-bone pattern. Brass is also em- 

 ployed, but with less effect, for when foliated work in small 

 patterns is worked in brass, it is necessary that the metal 



