THE CHANK BANGLE INDUSTRY. 
439 
projection has to be chipped off with the utmost care as this part of the ring is its weakest 
point as it marks the junction of adjacent shell whorls, and if the work be done roughly 
or carelessly, the ring is frequently fractured at this place. The tool used is a small 
form of the hammer used to break away the columella and the apex, one end of the 
head being sharp, the other blunt. With its aid any acutely projecting portions of 
the margin are also broken off in order to reduce to the utmost the labour of rubbing 
down. It may here be noted that owing to the shell having to be cut obliquely and 
not transversely to the long axis the sections appear to be cut askew, particularly 
those below the shoulder of the shell, and in consequence the ring in transverse section 
shows one outer obtuse and one outer acute angle ; when the latter is specially promi- 
nent it is usually reduced by careful chipping with a light sharp-edged hammer. 
The rubbing down of the inner surface of the working circlet is accomplished in 
an ingenious manner by means of a wooden spindle 18 to 20 inches long, covered with 
an abrasive coating of fine river sand embedded in a rough lac basis. Several sections 
are threaded on the spindle which is wedged tightly between the low stool whereon 
the grinder sits and some rigid second support — a tree trunk outside the house or a 
post of the verandah workshop. Smoothening is effected by rubbing the rings up 
and down the spindle till the required effect is attained. For this work, the pay given 
in one workshop visited was 5 annas per 100 sections finished, plus i| anna per 100 
as the cost of the lac in which the abrasive is incorporated. The lac used is a 
coarse quality obtained from the Garo hills and elsewhere in Assam. If the bangles 
to be made are of the heavy plain pattern required by low-caste Hindu women, the 
sawn (lateral) surfaces of the section are now ground down upon a fine-grained sand- 
stone slab reputed to come from Mirzapore, near Benares. This stone is not unlike 
the small gravestones used by Muhammadans in some districts ; it measures usually 
16 in. x 8 in. 
A typical compound bangle made at Haragash in Rangpur District in consider- 
able quantity has the outer face of each section formed of two planes meeting medially 
at an obtuse angle. The original form of the working ring in transverse section 
being rectangular, considerable labour is required to rub down the outer face of each 
ring to the requisite pattern owing to the crude form of the tool used ; the work is 
simple, and with an abundant supply of cheap labour, employers feel no need to seek 
for improved methods. For grinding the outer face of bangles to this pattern the 
workers receive Re. 1 per 100. 
More highly finished bangles necessitate decoration by means of carving, drilling, 
polishing and lacquering. For carving, small tenon saws and files are used ; prefer- 
ence is given to the former whenever possible as it is more flexible, expeditious, 
and durable than files. The greater part of patterns composed of straight lines and 
grooves are graved in this way by a small saw of the pattern shown in figs. 8 & 9, 
pi. xiv. The edge is of the same minutely dentate form as in the two-handed 
shell-saws, and is sharpened in similar manner by means of a chisel-edged hammer. 
An ornamentation frequent on common bangles for countrywomen is where a 
V-shaped groove passes circumferentially around it. This is produced by two cuts 
