Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/176

148 a foot or two in length, and an inch or more in width. They hold this firmly between the thumb and fingers of the left hand, and taking the sharp-pointed style in the right hand, rest it against the thumb nail of the left, which is notched for this purpose; and thus guiding it, cut the letters into the surface of the olla or palm-leaf. The writing is then made more plain by having powdered charcoal rubbed into the leaf.

By practice, they become so skilful that you may see men writing thus on the olla as they walk along the streets. In church they take notes of the sermon, and in business draw up accounts in this way, both neatly and rapidly.

A book is made by cutting a number of ollas to an even length and breadth, and fitting two pieces of thin board to them; it is bound by a string passing through a round hole in the boards and ollas, and wound around the whole. The covers are often carved and ornamented in accordance with Hindu notions of beauty. By loosening the string, the leaves may be separated, and the book read. When not needed, it is tied up and laid away.

The boys in this, and other schools taught only in Tamil, are generally of the poorer