Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 1.djvu/175

 Korieah—Benares toys are made of this wood: it is beautifully white, fine grained, and delicate; it turns delightfully, and is very light. The toys are lacquered on the lathe by applying sealing-wax to them; the friction warms the sealing-wax, and it adheres. See Appendix, No. 11.

Mango-wood, amrā, (spondias mangifera)—fit for common work, out-house doors and beams, kitchen-tables, &c.

Babul—a very heavy and extremely hard wood (acacia Arabica).

Patang—a red wood, used in colouring cloths.

Lall chundun—a cedar.

Chucrassy—also walnut-wood from the hills.

From the Soane and Cane rivers we procured about half a bushel of pebbles, consisting of chalcedony, moss-agate, tree and fortification agate, cornelian, cinnamon-stone, goree (a sort of spar); and from Lucnow and Agra, bloodstone, lapis-lazuli, jet, petrified cocoa-nut bark, plum-pudding-stone, fossil-stone, gold-stone, and amethyst.

The tree-agate, or tree-stone, is so called by the natives from the marks on the surface resembling trees and flowers. In other agates the marks lie deep in the stone, in these they are all on the surface, and in grinding and polishing are easily destroyed, unless care be taken not to go too deep; they reminded me of a stone I saw in England, called Mocha-stone, which was set in small brilliants.

The pebbles from the Soane river are generally esteemed more than those of the Cane.

The process of cutting, and grinding, and polishing pebbles is as follows:—

The pebble is kept firm by being fastened on a board by a bit of lac—not sealing-wax. It is cut in halves by a small bamboo bow, strung with fine iron wire; powdered kurand patthar and water are put upon it during the time. The bow is used by the hand. The natives cut the pebbles by this simple method wonderfully even.

The Indian lathe for grinding and polishing stones is turned by the h[)u]kāk, or stonecutter, with a long bow in his right hand, whilst with the left hand he applies the pebble to the wheel.