method of construction the patterns employed in this art are fundamentally geometrical, but the Newar has been able to add foliated forms to these, and, by superimposing floral shapes in wood and metal, has carried this joinery to its utmost limit. A living interest is still taken in this effective form of lattice-work, and one special design on a building in Bhatgaon is pointed out with pride to this day as the only specimen of its kind in the whole of Nepal.
In conjunction with the carved woodwork, moulded brick and modelled terra-cotta is often found, the eave-mouldings and watercourses over the doors and windows being generally constructed in this manner. The builder used an exceptionally good quality of clay, and by means of a system of firing which produced a hard, smooth, shell-like surface, his masonry seems to defy all weathers, besides displaying a most artistic colouring. But apart from these structural features, terra-cotta is used freely for purely decorative purposes. The tympanum, which is found over most important doorways, usually of hammered
