Page:The Industrial Arts of India.djvu/77

 manufactured by the Mugs, has a long blade, widening towards the top, which is square, and fitted straight in the handle. The kukri of the Ghurkas of Nipal, which has a short handle and an incurved blade, widening in the middle and drawing to a point at the end, is well known. Swords of good temper are still made at Pehani, in the Hardoi district of Oudh.

Excellent steel is fused for gun-barrels and sword-blades along the banks of the Nerbudda, at Panagar, Katangi, Jabera, Barela, and Tenderkhera in the Central Provinces; at Dewulghat in the Berars ; and in Mysore. The knives and hatchets made by the Ghasias along the Upper Godavari have been already mentioned.

Nagpur, the capital of the Central Provinces, is noted for the manufacture of steel weapons, such as spears and daggers, with the steel brought from the valleys of the Nerbudda and Tapti. In the Madras Presidency arms and cutlery are produced at Tumkur for sale all over Mysore. There are 120 forges at Tumkur. Good swords, and spears, and daggers are also made at Kudwur and Vk ianagram ; the superbly-mounted arms of the latter place being used chiefly in pageantry. In Kurg a handsomely mounted sword, of a peculiar shape, is made, called adya-kathi.

Handsomely-painted leather shields are made at Ahmedabad and in other parts of Gujarat in the Bombay Presidency, and also in Rajputana ; and the Katch silversmiths are famous all over India for their decoration of arms of all sorts in repousse gold and silver.

For variety, extent, and gorgeousness, and ethnological and artistic value, no such collection of Indian arms exists in this country as that belonging to the Prince of Wales. It repre- sents the armourer’s art in every province of India, from the rude spear of the savage Nicobar islanders to the costly damas- cened, sculptured, and jewelled swords and shields, spears, daggers and matchlocks of Cashmere, Katch, and Vizianagram. The most striking object jn the collection is a suit of armour made