204 



KHASI HILLS, 



roughly formed. Ee-heated, it is then beaten out into the first form of the 

 codalie ( Fig 21 b ). It is again heated, and an additional change 

 of form given to it. The mass which at first was about two inches 

 thick has now been reduced to about half an inch, or thereabouts ; and, 

 about four inches wide at first, it has now become seven or eight. 

 Another heating again reduces this, and gives it more form. This is 



the fifth time it has been fired, and it is again heated three times more, 

 and each successive time brought more nearly to its finished state. 

 Up to this stage of the process the four men have been all engaged in 

 the forging ; now the one man, who has charge of the fire, singly con- 

 tinues to improve the form and complete the fashioning of the codalie. 



The hammers used by these smiths appear at first sight very 

 awkward and unwieldy. They are very long in the head, being from 

 12 to 17 inches, only one-faced, with the handle inserted near to 

 the end of the head. This handle is frequently not much longer than 

 the head of the hammer itself. This peculiarity in the forms of the 

 hammers leads to a marked difference in the mode of using them, as 

 compared with that which an English mechanic would adopt. A Khasi 

 smith never swings his hammer, however heavy, but simply lifts it 

 vertically, and the force of the blow depends on the weight and impe- 

 tus of the hammer itself, as it falls, rather than on the muscular power 

 of the person who wields it. The general form of the hammers used 



