THE CHANK BANGLE INDUSTRY. 
437 
his feet have to function as a vice during the sawing of the sections, the shell to be 
cut being placed between the right heel and the toes of the left foot. 
After the columella and lip of the shell are removed, a disc of hard wood is placed 
over the mouth aperture of the shell to provide a firm purchase for the foot pressed 
against this side of the shell. The worker is now ready to begin sawing the shell into 
sections. For this purpose he is provided with a heavy hand-saw of great apparent 
clumsiness. The iron blade, as seen in figs. 3 & 4, pl.xiii , is of a deep crescentic form end- 
ing in an attenuate horn at each end. A little way from each of these tapered extremities 
the end of a long iron tang is rivetted to the back of the saw ; the further ends of the 
two tangs are connected by a thin cane cross bar or handle lashed by twine to the tangs 
which are covered with a serving of the same twine. It is noteworthy that the tangs 
are not straight but have a hook-like bend near the attachment to the blade. The 
latter is of stout forged iron plate 2 mm. thick except for a distance of one inch 
from the cutting edge where it is worked down to a thickness of 06 mm. Between 
the tangs the back of the saw is protected by a piping of iron. A saw of this 
description costs about Rs. 10, each workman providing his own. After sharpening, 
a new saw is adorned on each side of the blade with a number of red spots as 
auspicious marks. 
In beginning work, the shell is placed somewhat obliquely between the feet, 
the apex directed to the right and away from the worker, who places his left 
hand on one twine-covered tang of the saw and the other on the horn of the 
blade at the opposite extremity. Balancing the saw carefully in his hands, he 
applies the edge to the shell and begins a vigorous to and fro movement of the saw 
from side to side, the course of his hands being through a segment of a circle at each 
swing. Several times he pauses momentarily to adjust the shell anew as the work 
progresses. On an average it takes % minutes to saw once through a shell. The 
number of working sections given by a single shell is determined according to the shape 
and size of the shell and the thickness of the sections desired. For the narrow churi 
bangles as many as ten sections may be obtained from a good-sized shell, but for the 
broad bala bangle three are a good average. If 5 sections are cut from a shell, the shell 
has to be sawn through six times, so we must count five minutes as the minimum 
time required to cut off a working section. To this must be added the time occupied 
in resharpening the saw, a frequent requirement owing to the great hardness of the 
shell. Fortunately the method employed is an expeditious one. It consists merely in 
going over the whole length of the cutting edge in a series of taps with a light chisel 
set hammerwise in a wooden handle (fig. 4, pi. xiii). The taps are quite lightly given, 
the serrations very numerous and very shallow. 
In Dacca, a skilled cutter is paid at the rate of Rs. 10 to Rs. 12 per 100 shells 
sawn up, but for this remuneration he has to prepare the shells for cutting, a slow and 
tedious operation, and has to provide his own tools. One hundred working sections 
per day is the limit of production per man working upon shells previously prepared 
ready for sawing. In practice it is usually considerably less owing to various delays 
normal as well as unforeseen — the repeated sharpening required by the saw, a badly 
