THE ART SECTION. 
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remote, but nevertheless it exists. What is referred to is the 
well-known red and white-spotted handkerchief often seen 
in the hands of the English labourer or navvy, called the 
bandana.” The explanation of the similarity is as follows : 
Years ago numbers of Rajputana coolies emigrated to 
Jamaica, taking with them their tie-dyed shawls and turbans. 
Specimens of these fabrics eventually found their way to 
England, where, owing to a demand, these spotted patterns 
were reproduced in the mills of Manchester. Later the same 
style of design with certain modifications was introduced by 
the Lancashire manufacturers into common articles of English 
use, hence the '‘bandana” handkerchief, from the Hindu¬ 
stani word " bandana to tie. Incidentally the art in an 
exactly similar form is carried on in Japan, where it is also 
called bandana work, the name thus indicating without a 
doubt that it essentially originated in India. 
The next class of exhibit is that of Indian embroideries, 
a fairly representative series of which will be found in the 
adjacent frames. As a great authority has said of Indian 
art as a whole, so the same sentiment attaches to its 
embroidery : it has a character, what is popular^ called an 
atmosphere, of its own. It possesses an individuality, a special 
fundamental quality which does not permit of a comparison 
with the same handicraft in other countries. It stands in a 
class by itself, and a study of the specimens of embroidery in 
the Museum collection will go far towards bearing out this 
view of the art. What could be richer and more expressive 
of the country of its manufacture than the Kashmir embroi¬ 
dered shawl, with its golds and greens intermingled in such a 
fantasy of forms. Or take another, a local form of the art, 
a kasida from Dacca, remarkable not so much on account 
of its colour, but for the rich pattern of chain stitch with 
which the ground is ornamented. These articles have been 
for many years the product of Dacca, while the principal mar¬ 
ket for the output has been among the Arabs of the Persian 
Gulf, nearly three thousand miles away, one of those indus¬ 
trial puzzles which seem to have no explanation. Dacca, by 
the by, has another of these riddles in her midst in the local 
industry of carved sea-shells. These shells are procured in 
