The East India Vade-Mecum, Volume 1 (of 2): or, complete guide to gentlemen intended for the civil, military, or naval service of the East India Company.Williamson, Thomas
History
The East India Vade-Mecum, Volume 1 (of 2): or, complete guide to gentlemen intended for the civil, military, or naval service of the East India Company.
Williamson, Thomas
India -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
The rings made from the sea-conch, are called _kaunch ke t’choory_, or
_t’choories_ made of conch; in contra-distinction to a common kind of
_t’choories_, made, by persons who follow that profession only, from a
species of silicious clay, which speedily vitrifies, forming a
semi-transparent mass, that is worked into rings of about a line in
diameter; but having rather quadrangular than circular surfaces; so that
the inner circumference may be rather easy to the wrist, and the upper
part, (or outer circumference,) be sufficiently flat to exhibit various
embellishments, given by aid of gold leaf, and little enamelled, or
lacquered specks, &c., applied thereto, and afterwards burnt in. It is
inconceivable how expert the women who vend the _t’choories_, and who
are thence called _t’chooríaens_, are in applying these ornaments;
which, after being once passed over the hand, often are found to fit the
wrist admirably: persons unacquainted with the dexterity of these women,
would, on seeing the rings before they were on, consider it impossible
to get the hand through; yet, by means of a little oil, or even of
water, and compressing the very flexible member into a suitable form,
the rings are successively made to glide over the joints with tolerable
facility; very few, in proportion, being broken during the operation. It
is to be remarked, that, as probably forty or fifty _t’choories_ are to
be worn upon each wrist, those appropriated to the thicker part of the
arm, being, of course, the first to pass, the hand becomes gradually
suppled, and disposed to receive each succeeding ring, which is
imperceptibly of less diameter than its predecessor. To say the most of
_t’choories_, they have a very heavy appearance, and are always highly
uncomfortable to Madam’s most intimate acquaintances, in consequence of
their being peculiarly brittle.
Some ladies wear a massy ring of solid silver on each wrist, weighing,
perhaps, from three to five ounces: these are commonly hexagonal, or
octagonal, of an equal thickness throughout, and terminated by a knob at
each end, the same as in the _haunseah_. Being of pure silver, this
ornament, which is called a _kurrah_, may be opened sufficiently to be
put on, or off, at pleasure; the ends being brought together by an easy
pressure of the other hand.
A bracelet, formed of small pointed prisms of solid silver, each about
the size of a very large barley-corn, and having a ring soldered to one
of its sides is in very common use. These prisms are strung upon black
silk, as close as their pointed, or perhaps rounded, ends will admit, in
three or four parallel rows, and then fastened, the same as the
_baujoo-bund_. Some of the bracelets, which bear the general name of
_poanҫhies_, are of gold, intermixed with pearls; affording a very rich
appearance: they are certainly more ornamental than _t’choories_, which
are, in the end, very expensive, on account of the immense numbers that
give way in the wearing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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