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j. HORNELL ON THE CHANK BANGLE INDUSTRY. 
to be the presence of a chank bangle so small that the wrist had been wounded and 
circulation impeded ; gangrene was imminent, and although the woman was loth to 
part with her bangle it had to be filed off to save the hand. 
The export of round and square discs of chank shell to the Buddhist countries 
of the North appears to be much less than in Tavernier’s time, as it is now insignificant. 
From information gleaned in Dacca, it would appear that these tabular pieces are 
sometimes worn suspended from the hair as charms, and my informants stated that 
this custom is found principally among Thibetans (Bhuteas as they termed them) and 
also to some extent among the Naga and Khasia peoples. Among the Nagas, these 
discs are employed as necklaces and also to ornament the men’s hair-bedecked helmets. 
As already noted, some Bhutea tribes are also said to wear the columella of the 
chank as an ear ornament, and Prince Henri d’ Orleans 1 found the women of the 
wild Lissus, a section of the Tolo tribe, mountaineers living in the upper valley of 
the Mekong in Yunnan, employing chank-shell discs to ornament their Chinese caps. 
It may be that these Lissus and cognate tribes represent those chank-jewel wearers 
whom Tavernier refers to as belonging to the kingdom of Siam. In this latter coun- 
try at the present day I know of no utilization of chanks in personal adornment. 
The chank is one of the eight lucky signs recognized by Buddhists of the Northern 
cult, and as such is constantly reproduced in Buddhist ornamentation in Thibet and 
Bhutan. It may therefore be inferred that the use of it in personal adornment has a 
like reason ; whether in the form of a bangle, an ear ornament, or a breast disc, it is 
employed as a talisman to ensure good fortune, and possibly even as a charm against 
the evil eye, as is the chank shell placed on the forehead of draught bulls in Southern 
India. 
1 “ From Tonkin to India,” English translation, London, 1898. 
PRESMTa$) 
z U oiiH 1913 
