1850.] 



City of Aiming abaci. 



cipal of which is sent to Hyderabad ; and for which place the whole 

 of the looms are now executing goods on commission : a small quan- 

 tity is sent to Madras. The same class of people manufacture gold 

 Nukkie. and silver lace, of the broad, and narrow kind called 



Kenari. Nukkie, Gota and Kenari ; the value of which is esti- 



mated at 15,588 rupees for the past year. 



Brocade. The manufacture of brocade or tash employs about 



50 workmen, the whole of whom are Mahomedans, the 

 warp is of colored silk, the woof of gold or silver thread ; a single 

 length of the tash is called a tat and is of two breadths, but both 

 are equal in length, a tat 30 yards long and a yard broad takes 15 

 days making, and weighs 100 tolas. The other size is but half a 

 yard broad, weighs 50 tolas, and takes 8 days to prepare. Each 

 loom requires the attention of two men and a boy, who between them, 

 can make 7 tolas a day ; one rupee is paid the workmen for making 

 8 tolas, and sells for 2 rupees 3 annas a tola. 



Gold Wiremak- The gold and silver wire makers are called Tar- 

 ers, Tarkush. . at p resen t there is but one house that makes 



this article, employing about 25 men in the operation, silver bars or 

 <l lugree" as they are called, weighing 40 tolas, are coated with 

 gold leaf to the amount of from 5 to 8 mashas, and then made to 

 pass through a succession of gradually diminishing holes drilled in a 

 plate of steel, called a parteeor drawplate, until the bar of metal which 

 was originally but ten inches long has been extended to 220 yards ; 

 the intense pressure employed to effect this, renders it very brittle, 

 and the process of annealing frequently required to restore its ductility, 

 which is merely placing it in hot ashes in a pan. The instrument for 

 drawing the wire is called a jumba and is a large pair of nippers, 

 having the inner blades made rough like a file, to assist it the better 

 in grasping the wire : a ring passes over the handles to which a 

 strong chain is attached and fastened to a windlass, worked by the 

 hands and feet ; the chain and wire winds round the roller of the 

 windlass, and are again wound off on a small reel, called a fulka : 

 this operation has to be repeated about 40 times before it acquires 

 the requisite dimensions ; a coil of wire thus prepared is called a 

 pasa, and the workmen receive 2 annas wages for their trouble r two 

 men can make 5 pasa a day. This business has much fallen off of 



