278 MIDNAPORE, OEISSA, &C. 



Neeltigur hill in pergunnah Ultee, and the large statues at the Black 

 Pagoda of Canarue near Pooree. The variety generally worked is one 

 of the kinds of garnetiferous gneiss. At Neeltigur, millstones are manu- 

 factured to a considerable extent, in other places drinking cups are 

 made of gneiss. 



The chloritic and serpentinous beds in the gneiss ai-e manufactured 



into plates and basins, wherever they occur. In 

 Chloritic rock. ,. . 



Midnapoor district and close to its boundarv in 



Maunbhoom, and in the Nilgiri hills are the principal seats of the manu- 

 facture in these districts. The rock yields a beautiful compact and very 

 tough material, though soft and easy to work. It is admirably suited 

 for fine carvings as may be well seen in some of the beautifully sculp- 

 tured doorways of the Black Pagoda, which are carved from this variety 

 of rock. Blocks of almost any size can be obtained, the only impedi- 

 ment being the difficulty of transport from the high hills on which it 

 generally occurs. 



The most general use of this rock at present, however, is in the ma- 

 ssed for plates, bowls, niifacture of plates, bowls, basins, &c. which are 

 "' in common use all over the country. The tools 



employed in the manufacture of these are of the rudest kind. A short 

 round bar of iron pointed at one end, and a wooden mallet suffice to 

 procure from the rock a piece, of size sufficient for a plate or bowl. 



This is rudely cut into the intended form by 

 Mode of working. 



the quarryman on the spot, and the thus half- 

 finished materials are brought down from the quarries or holes on 

 the hill side, and finished by different workmen in the villages 

 below. This is done partly by hand with finer tools, partly on 

 a simple lathe. The finished plates, &c. are then transported to 

 the markets by merchants who deal in these articles, and who 

 generally have the whole produce of villages secured by contract 

 before hand. 



