110 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



is so restricted that some of the workers are glad to ensconce 

 themselves on the stairs or on balconies. Their tools are of a 

 very primitive character and the conditions under which 

 they have to work anything but favourable, but with the 

 patience under difficulties so natural to the Hindu artisan, 

 they are able to execute their tasks with considerable success. 

 An exceptionally fine piece of work that issued from this 

 Delhi factory as many as sixty years ago, an exquisitely 

 carved Hindu Pantheon, has only quite recently found a 

 purchaser. The wages earned by these ivory carvers seem 

 ridiculously small, but possibly compare not unfavourably 

 with the very low average wage earned by other Hindu 

 workers. Experienced carvers receive from $1.60 to $16 

 a month, according to their ability and the class of work 

 they perform. The apprentices whose course lasts from five 

 to seven years receive nothing during this time, and when 

 their apprenticeship has closed but 16 cents a month at 

 first. 



The work done by the Hindu ivory carvers of the present 

 day appears to be of a routine quality in the main, and is 

 rarely characterized by much originality. Still the art is 

 practised in many different localities in India and a wide 

 range of objects are produced. In the Calcutta Interna- 

 tional Exhibition were displayed specimens from Murshida- 

 bad, Gya, Dumraon, Darbhanga, the Tributary States of 

 Orissa, Rangpur, Bardwan, Tipperah, Chittagong, Dacca, 

 and Patna. Of these the preference can be given to the 

 productions of Murshidabad, because of their high finish and 

 also because they show the ingenuity in working out minute 

 details so characteristic of Indian ivory carving at its best. 

 These merits are all the more praiseworthy in view of the 

 primitive tools used by the carvers. Unfortunately, from 

 one cause or another, the number of those engaged in this 

 work is continually diminishing. Travancore may also be 



