On the Rise and Progress of the Lithographic Art in India. 55 
fry their productions, they are, even with all the disadvantages they must naturally 
experience in being almost wholly depend ant on their own resources, fully equal to 
those of London in all that relates to writings or line works ; but in that most fas- 
cinating branch, chalk drawing, they are far behind ; in fact in this way scarcely any 
thing tolerable has been produced, the absence of the depth of colour which is the 
beauty of those works, being a leading defect ; the want of keeping in the half tints 
is also" generally observable : how far further experience may remedy these is a mat- 
ter of question! Two publications consisting of chalk and line drawings are now in 
course of publication : the one entitled the Amateur's Repository, issuing from the 
Asiatic press, which contains some elegant drawings ; but the printing does not ap- 
proach to the beauty of the London specimens. In the absence of other productions 
of a similar nature it may, however, be pronounced good, and a creditable attempt to 
supply the deficiency in this branch. 
The Commercial press lias also issued its proposals for publishing an interesting 
work under the title of the Architectural Illustrations of Hindostan, in which 
the chaik and line manners will be introduced. We understand it has met with 
good encouragement, and that the Governor General has patronized the work. 
From the leisure enjoyed by individuals in this country, it is very probable, some 
amateur will carry the chalk drawing branch to a great pitch of perfection. 
Having thus given a brief view of the rise and progress of an interesting branch 
of the arts in this country, we shall proceed to a not less important subject, the 
Native Lithographic Slones of India. 
Several amateurs in the interior having experienced the difficulty and expense 
of procuring the true German lithographic stone in Calcutta, were of necessity led 
to m ike experiments on such as the country afforded, and to this end, small pieces 
of stone of various descriptions were, at different times, collected and sent down 
to Calcutta for experiment. 
The first was the Sung Biidul or calcareous clay slate from Agra, of a 
pretty firm structure, and close grain : effervescing readily with acids, taking a 
high polish and an uniform grain when dry ground with sand for the chalk man- 
ner. This was tried both with chalk drawing and writings, for both of which it 
appears adapted : barring the defect of its colour, which is marbled in a variety of 
forms, perhaps it may lie pronounced more suited for writings than drawings, as 
the (lark veins present a serious objection to putting in the delicate tints of chalk 
drawings. 
A yellow coarse grained stone also from Agra was next tried, and afforded the 
unusual exhibition of a stone not possessing the characteristics of a true lithogra. 
phic stone, yet producing good impressions. 
This stone is hardly at all acted on by dilute nitric acid, yet a drawing made upon 
it held firmly and printed with great depth of colour, although from its naturally 
coarse grain nothing delicate can be expected from it. 
While its colour of a dull orange yellow is a great advantage over the generally 
dark coloured specimens hitherto experimented on, its want of compactness is a draw- 
back which will require plates of proportionately greater thickness to he used. For 
writings it is quite unsuited, no polishing carrying it to a greater pitch of smoothness 
than that waxy feel, found on the surface of an ordinary sandstone which has un- 
dergone the process of polishing. 
The next stone coining nearest in its properties to true lithographic, and theone 
which we are inclined to think will answer every, useful purpose, is a slate from 
the bed of the §6n river at Rotas GerhA The specimen was rather dark coloured, 
but afforded the best results of any. Acids readily acted upon it, while at the same 
time it was exceedingly compact, took a moderate polish, and was excellent when 
grained. Particles of mica interspersed are an objection against this stone, which 
however is found, as it is stated, in great variety and of large dimensions, amongst 
which, undoubtedly, some of superior purity of colour, and containing less admixture 
of the rock above noticed, may be obtained. 
It was, we believe, on specimens of stone similar to this, that the amateur press 
of Behar made some experiments, and produced very neat impressions • but in 
this, as in the others, the extreme tenuity and small dimensions of the specimens 
were a great drawback to any thing like a fair trial ; the only wonder is, how im- 
pressions even tolerable could have been elicited under such unfavourable circum- 
stances. 
