164 
GROUP VI.—LE ÄTHER AND INDIA-RUBBE R INDUSTRY. 
SECTION I.-LE ÄTHER AND ROUGH SKINS. 
The leather prepared by the proeesses in general 
use among the natives is of a hard and coarse, 
but usually strong description. The shoes of the 
poorer classes, leathern water vessels, and to some 
extent, harness and saddlery are almost the only 
objects to which leather is applied. 
The demand for leather of a finer and better qua- 
lity is but slight, and no attempts are made at the 
improvement of the present rüde method of tanning 
(vide note appended to specimens of leather exhibited 
by Comrnissary of Ordnance, Cawnpore), or at the 
introduction of the processes of varnishing, enamel- 
ling and polishing. As a natural result, where ex- 
cellenee of workmanship and costliness of material 
is required, cloth and gold embroidery are substituted 
for leather in native saddlery, &c. The skins com- 
monly prepared are those of the goat, calf, bullock, 
and camel, that of the last drying into a very hard 
compact hide, which is made into “ Kuppas ” and 
oil vessels. The best leathers are those maue at 
Peshawur or brought from Kabul, where the process 
of communicating a fine turquoise blue to leather is 
successfully practised in a kind of imitation morocco 
leather. Nurpür, in the Kangra district, is celebrated 
for its red feather called “ lakki.” Kangra is famous 
for a soft leather which is made into the pyjama or 
trousers worn by the hill people in the neighbourhood. 
At Kangra also the art of dressing the skins of wild 
animals of the chase is dexterously practised. 
Raw hides, dried and limed, form a considerable 
article of the export trade of India, the traders being 
both native and European, who employ their own 
agents (Chamars) travelfing about the country, col- 
lecting the skins from the resident chamars in the 
villages. 
Maistry H. Shunkariah, Hoonsoof. 
Tanned buffalo and bullock hides. 
Tanned Sambur skin. 
Commissary of Ordnance, Cawnpore. 
Buffalo and cow hides. Tanned and curried. 
Goat and sheep skins. Tanned and curried. 
Cow hides. Japanned and enamelled. 
Samples of leather in different stages of manufac- 
ture (mounted in wooden frame). 
Tanning and currying materials. 
The staple manufacture of Cawnpore is leather. 
An extensive trade is also done in the manufacture 
of saddlery (for the use of Government), boots, shoes, 
and other leathern articles. 
The process of tanning consists in soaking the 
skins in lime water for some days to loosen the hair 
and surface of the skin; the hide is then scraped, 
and after washing is sewn up in the form of a sack, 
which is filled with babool bark (Acacia arabica); it 
is then exposed to a constant stream of water, which 
forces the astringent matter into the pores of the 
hide very rapidly; but to make the process still 
more rapid the hide is taken out, wrung, and refilled 
every four or five days. While still damp the skins 
are spread on the ground and rabbed on both sides 
with a wooden block or mailet furnished with a 
handle. A hide can he ready in this way in about 
a month, but the leather is inferior in strength, 
durability, and pliability to English leather. 
Indore Local Committee. 
Leather (6 specimens), plain and coloured. 
SECTION II.—LEATHER WARES. 
Commissary of Ordnance, Cawnpore. 
Harness, lead, double (2 sets), consisting of 
Bits, collars, cruppers, girths, stirrup iron and 
leathers, leggings, munnahs, pannels, buckling 
pieces, reins, saddles, straps, surcingles, rope 
traces, wallets, whips, and iron logs. 
Saddlery, Artillery and Cavalry (1 set) consisting 
of :— 
Bits, bridles, shoe cases, cruppers, collars, stirrup 
irons and leathers, pannels, reins, munnahs, 
saddles, straps, surcingles, wallets, and saddle- 
trees. 
Harness, breast, mandes pattem (1 set), consisting 
of :— 
Breast pieces, straps, and traces. 
Härness wheel, double set (1) consisting of:—- 
Bands, bits, breechings, collars, cruppers, girths, 
hames, stirrup irons and leathers, leggings, 
pannels, buckling pieces, reins, saddles, straps, 
surcingles, traces, tugs, wallets, whip, iron 
logs, and kicking straps. 
Honourable R. Bourke, London. 
Afghan saddle and stirrups.