is for miles around the cynosure of the pilgrims proceeding toward the sacred city from every part of India. The narrow streets are full of beautiful white cows adorned with garlands of flowers, and having the trisula of Siva stamped on their hind- quarters: and every street leads down to the Ganges and the thousand temples and pavilions clustered along its banks.
A large quantity of the exported domestic brass work of Benares has in recent years found its Way into this country. It is very rickety in its forms, which are chased all over in shallow, weak patterns; and it fails altogether to please owing to its excessive ornamentation. In the trays particularly all appearance of utility is destroyed by the unsuitable manner in which decoration is applied over their whole surface.
In Oudh, the town of Bandhua enjoys a local reputation for its metal vessels.
In Bengal what are known as kansha plates are a specialty of Bardwan and Midnapur ; and several other places in the Bardwan division are noted for their metal pots and pans : and also Nuddea, and Panihatti in the Presidency divi- sion. At Nuddea, however, the industry has latterly declined owing to the bankruptcy of the chief manufacturer. In the Chittagong division the village braziers turn out excellent metal work. All sorts of domestic utensils in brass and bell metal are made throughout the Rajshahye division, particularly at Mur- shedabad and Malda ; also at Shahabad in the Patna division ; and throughout the Orissa division ; in brass and pewter in the Chota Nagpore division ; and in iron and brass all over the Dacca division, particularly about Mymensing, where, at Kag- mari, brass, and iron, and also white metal work, are produced on a large scale. At Kagmari* alone 300 men are employed in the business, and the yearly out-turn is over 150,000 lbs. These wares are always sold by weight, a small fraction over it being allowed for the manufacturer's profit.
In the Central Provinces which are the ancient Gondwana, the
