or any other tree, and of all sizes, are common decorations in Hindu houses* Often they are made of silk, feathers, and tinsel, and -they always recall to mind the ter pole , or golden vine made in ancient times by the goldsmiths of Jerusalem. Josephus [Antiquities, xiv 3] informs us that when Fompey came to Damascus, Aristobulus sent him out of Judaea a great present, which was a golden vine or garden, which the Jews called terpole , the “delight”
Plates 3 and 4 are examples of unusual forms of Cashmere work, the latter in parcel gilt silver, and the former in “ ruddy gold." This ruddy gold” is used in India only in Cashmere, and in Further India in Burma* All over India elsewhere gold is stained deep yellow, except in Sindh, where the goldsmiths and jewellers some- times also give it a singular and highlyartistic tinge of olive-brown. The Sindh goldsmiths' work is very beautiful, and of un con- taminated indigenous design, but is seldom seen excepting at Exhibitions*
The silver sarais made at Lucknow [Plates 5 and 6] are very like those of Cashmere, and are evidently derived from them, those of Cashmere being distinguished by the introduction of the shawl cone pattern in the chasing. Lucknow was once famous for its vessels of mixed gold and silver, but since the abolition of the native court of Gudh, their production, as of all the other sump- tuary arts of this once royal and renowned poly technical city, has steadily declined.
A considerable quantity of gold and silver plate, of good original design and excellent workmanship, is now made at Dacca in Bengal, chiefly for export to Calcutta. At Chittagong also, in the same Presidency, the manufacture of vessels in gold and silver is a growing industry ; but the gold and silversmiths there can only execute plain work to pattern, and do not seem to have any designs of their own*
In the Central Provinces Chanda was formerly distinguished for its workers In the precious and baser metals, but much of
