346 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. INovember i, 1887. 
of propagating a knowledge of Christian facts and 
doctrines, and of profane and romantic history. A 
traditional way of treating those subjects was ad- 
hered to by artists of all kinds, and the same mode 
of treatment was maintained for centuries, yet we 
find that the mediaeval artists were not mere slavish 
copyists, and though they retained the traditional 
elements of the subjects and the conventional arrange- 
ment of them with curious fidelity, the style of art 
▼aried from time to time, and the artist told his 
story in the art vernacular of his own day. He 
worked very freely in the details of his picture, 
translating the customs and architecture, and other 
accessories into the fashions of his own time. In 
ancient Greece the same course had obtained, and it 
produced the greatest artists and the greatest works 
of art. 
Between these and Eastern art, as embodied at 
least in Mysore architecture, sculpture, and carving, 
a parallel may be drawn as regards the adoption of 
traditional subjects and modes of treatment, but the 
parallel stops abruptly when we come to variety in 
expression and to modifications, or improvements of 
the original examples. Centuries ago in Mysore a 
few beautiful types were created, for a time perhaps 
slight variations on these were introduced, but 
stagnation soon followed, and artists in stone and 
wood degenerated rapidly into mere copyists, and copy- 
ists pure and simple they have remained to the 
present day. 
When we come to the " technique " of his art, 
we find that the tools of. the sandalwood carver are 
simple and rude, all locally manufactured; his modes 
of working primitive in the extreme. He works ex- 
actly as his forefathers worked, his method and 
means are precisely those of centuries ago. Although 
the number of tools employed is considerable, many 
sizes being required at the various stages of each 
operation, they may be classified simply as the chisel, 
the curved chisel, the graver, the gouge, the mallet, 
in addition to which the ordinary carpenter's drill, 
square and lines are employed, j The carver having 
selected a . strong-scented and fine grained log which 
he himself saws into slabs of J to § inch thick, 
cuts and planes it into panels of the sizes required 
for the article to be manufactured. He next sketches 
in pencil the outline of the design on the wood 
itself, when the design is not very elaborate ; when 
intricate carvings are required, the drawing is made 
on thin paper which is pasted on to the panel. 
He then proceeds to cut and engrave the pattern 
into the wood, working out the outlines roughly at 
first, following up the first rough stage by a finer 
one with a finer tool, until by degrees the bold 
relief and deep undercutting are patiently attained, 
and the finishing touch given with tbe most delicate 
of his chisels. It may seem absurd, more especially 
when we examine closely the! best samples of 
his work, but it is a fact that the net re- 
sult to the first class carver of all his patience and 
skill is for a carved slab, at the ruling prices, the 
equivalent of a wage of 1J rupees a day. The 
apprentice, always a member of the family, begins by 
simply watching continuously and with close atten- 
tion the various stages in the work of the master, 
then he is put to practise on pieces of waste wood, 
after which he is promoted to the actual carving of 
inferior articles. Hi ne ver actually assists tbe master, 
who nev< r even guides his boyish band or shows him 
how to select and handle the tools; be learns simply 
from patient watching and imitation. 
Such is briefly the historj and description of this 
interesting industrial art, iu which Mysore claims a 
distinct pre-eminence. But what is to be done to 
raise the carver's work hitherto confined to mere 
copyistn, to the true level of an art-manufacture ? 
Selected specimens of their work have recently been 
exhibited at tbe Calcutta and Indian and Colonial 
Exhibitions. These have been much admired and a 
stimulus to the demand lor sandalwood articles may be 
thereby cre»te1. The number of good carvers is 
however very limited ; a few of them have 
recently migrated to Cashmere to take service 
under the Maharaja of that Province, and some 
have obtained permanent employ under the Maha- 
raja of Mysore, who takes an enlightened interest 
in their work, which it is his desire to foster 
and encourage. An enhanced demand is more likely 
to result in a deterioration of workmanship than iu 
any advancement in style and design ; we will have 
quantity, not quality. The present families of carvers 
being so few and apprenticeship having to commence 
at a very early age iu order that the necessary 
delicacy of touch and manipulative skill may be 
acquired, it would seem impossible to expect any 
extension of the best class of work or the attainment 
of any originality or variety in style without the 
direct intervention of the State. What shape State 
help should take is the problem. There is no Art- 
School in Mysore, nor can recourse well be had to 
the Art-Schools of the Presidency towns, for what 
would be gained as regards designing by youths 
attending these institutions would be lost to them 
as regards the essential manual skill acquired by 
early and constant practice. The distribution amongst 
the families of carvers, of suitable modern designs 
and patterns, periodical local exhibitions, and money 
prizes may do something ; but it is doubtful whether 
anything short of the endowment of a school to be 
devoted entirely to this purpose, with the best of the 
carvers selected as masters and with liberal scholar- 
ships, will effect the revival of what appears to be a 
fast-decaying industry. 
« 
INDIAN EXPERIENCES. 
(Continued from page 334.') 
The block of forest called Deva Shola, or the 
God's Wood — from Deva, God, and Shola, a wood — 
was, before the advent of the Chinchona planter on 
the Nilgiris, by far the largest and finest piece of 
forest on the plateau. Large streams of water flowed 
through it, and an old road ran through its centre 
fringed with masses of Ferns, such as Adiantum 
cethiopicum, A. hispidulum, Davallia tenuifolia, Pteris 
cretica, Lastrea aristata, Cyrtomium caryotideum, and 
many others, whilst the ravines were filled with hand- 
some specimens of a Tree Pern, Alsophila latebrosa. 
The Shola being situated so near the large station 
of Ootacamund, was a great resort of shooting and 
picnic parties. The wood consisted originally of from 
800 to 900 acres of low but very thick forest, with 
a very dense undergrowth of a species of Strobalan- 
thus with long interlacing stem«, forming in many 
.parts an impenetrable thicket, save for the lanes 
formed in it by the passage of deer and other wild 
animals. This famous wood was at one time the home 
of the tiger, bear, sambhur or large deer, leopard, 
wild boar, and other animals, which yielded magni- 
ficent sport to the residents and visitors to the 
Nilgiris. The wood was iu fact a place of great note 
and quite a feature of the hills, and was also looked 
upon by the surrounding native population as a 
peculiarly sacred spot, the place of abode of their 
| Gods, and where they retired to worship. It was 
i therefore with horror and dismay that they received 
I the news that 500 acres of the sacred Shola had by 
I Government been giveu over to the ruthless hand of 
the Chinchona planter. Notwithstanding all this, 
[however, when the time came for felling the forest 
the natives from tbe tei"bbouring villages of all castes, 
| with a true oriental love for gain i.i the shape of 
I wages, came crowning to the work of destroying the 
'Shola, which had been held to be so sacred by their 
'forefathers for so many generations. There can be 
no doubt that the destruction of this famous wood 
was a gross blunder. Iu the first place the Govern- 
ment were to blame in allowing it to pass out of 
their hands to the ext ut they did ; and secondly, 
the parties to whom the land was conceded were 
even more to blame in ruthlessly sweeping the land 
j of its covering of forest before having a single Chin- 
chona plant ready to be put out, and neglecting to 
leave all the necessary belts of protecting forest as 
| barriers against the annual gales of the south-west 
monsoon. 
