Obrazy na stronie
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the above date, at 1s. 4d, the quartern loaf, of 4lbs. 5. oz. 8 drams, would have been..... 12 6 Leaves a saving of..... 2 3 lbs. oz. drs.

26lbs. of flour at the rate of 80 loaves, of 4lbs. 5 oz. 8 drams each, to the sack of 280lbs.

lbs. oz. drs.

Grain in bread by 16lbs.
of potatoes, is mere
than half a pound of
bread for each pound
of potatoes...... .. 8 7 12

40 12 0

The iron oven has been in use more than 15 years; it is 20 inches deep, 16 inches wide, and 16 inches high; and has been recently fresh set to heat from a separate fire-place, which is 104 inches deep, 7 inches wide, and 7 inches high, the bars of the fire-place i inches from the bottom of the

oven.

Mr. Way's bread had been sent from Bridport Harbour to the Society on the 10th of March 1812; and had been examined and tasted at sundry times by members of the Society, from the 12th to the 26th of March, se that the greatest part of the loaf had been eaten. What remained, on the 26th, had every appearance of bread made wholly from wheaten flour well fermented, and well tasted, without being in the least mouldy or stale, though it had been baked fourteen days. It appeared to the Committee to be a very successful mode of making bread, and that it might tend to lessen the consumption of flour; an object of considerable national importance.

An Account of the Biddery Ware
in India. By Benjamin Hei
M. D. Naturalist to the lon
East India Company at Madras.

The Hindoos have since time immemorial not only excelled

would only have made 22 4 4 their neighbours in the manage

ment

ment of metals for useful and curious purposes, but they are even familiarly acquainted with alloys unknown to our practical chemists.

Among those in general use that have drawn the attention of Europeans living in India, are the alloys for the gurry, and the Biddery

ware.

The gurry is a disk of a cubit and upward in diameter, about half an inch in thickness in the centre, but decreasing toward the circumference, where it is scarcely more than of an inch. It is used to mark the divisions of time, by striking it with a wooden mallet. The sound is in general remarkably clear, full, and loud, when it is properly managed. In common they are suspended on a triangular pyramid made of three bamboos tied together at top. They are used in all large cities, at the cutivalschoultry, at the houses and cutcheries of great men, at the main guard of every battalion, and head-quarters of every detachment of troops. Some commanding officers have them even near their doors, to the annoyance of their visitors, whose ears are not so blunted and insensible as their own. In short, they are the regu lators of time and business in all India. The exact proportion of the compound of which they are made I do not recollect, but I believe it is somewhat variable, as the gurries are prized according to the place where they have been manufactured.

The Biddery ware is used particularly for hooker-bottoms, and dishes to band betel about to visiLors, where more precious metals are not attainable. It is of a black

colour, which never fades, and which, if tarnished, may be easily restored. To relieve the sable bue it is always more or less inlaid with silver. It is called Biddery ware from the place where it was originally, and I believe is still exclu sively, made; for though the people of Bengal have utensils of this kind, I have no where seen any new ones for sale, which would be the case were they manufac→ tured there.

Biddery is a large city, about 60 miles N. W. from Hyderabad, formerly the seat of mighty kings, and one of the largest, or best places of the Dekan, belonging to the Nizam. It is situated on the eastern brink of a table-land, which is about 100 feet above the level of the surrounding country, and from S. to N. six to eight miles in its diameter. The place is fortified, has high walls and extensive outworks, particularly to the northward, but whether strong, or otherwise, I am not competent to judge. I found them very badly guarded; as is generally the case in the fortified places belonging to the native powers of India.

As I had been always very desirous of learning the composition of the Biddery ware, and could get no information of it at Hyderabad, I requested Captain Sydenham, then resident at that court, to fayour me with a dustuck (order) to the Governor of Biddery (which place I was to pass on my way to join the detachment at Joulna), to assist me in getting the desired knowledge. I must observe here, that it is not only extremely difficult, in general, for travellers, but almost impossible, without mach money, to acquire any information 2 K 2

on

on a subject of the most indifferent nature, without the concurrence and actual support of the headman of the place. At Biddery the jealousy against Europeans of all classes is carried so far, that none are allowed to enter the gates of the city, except such as are in the service of the Nizam, and stationed in the fort. It happened fortunately that the chief of that place had some favours to ask of Captain Sydenham, and Mr. Russel, his assistant, whose kind assistance in promoting my inquiries on this and all other occasions I have gratefully to acknowledge: so that I received the dustuck without much delay, just as I ascended the table-land. On producing it at Biddery some of the manufacturers were immediately sent to me in the choultry, under a guard of peans, with the strictest orders that they should inform me of the whole and every part of their mystery. I wished to go to their houses; but as this had not been mentioned in the order, and as they lived in the city, I could not obtain permission. The men who attended me complained of want, in an employment which in former times had been the means of subsisting a numerous class of their own cast, and of enriching the place, but which now scarcely yielded food to five families that remained. They are of the goldsmith cast, which, together with some of other handicrafts, is the lowest of all sooders, though they wear the Braminical string.

At their first visit they brought nothing but a lump of the compound used for casting their ware, and a few vessels which they had just in hand for inlaying them with silver, an operation which they

conceived would be of all the most attractive to a curious faringa. As the metal in this state was divested of all but its natural colour, I recognized it immediately as a compound of which the greatest proportion is tin. It contained of this metal 24 parts, and one of copper, joined by fusion. I was herein not a little disappointed, as I had always understood that it was made of a metallic substance found on the table-land of Biddery, and which, as I never had made any experiment with a view of discovering its composition, I flattered myself might be a new mineral. In coming along I really had found also a lithamaga, which resembled the common Biddery ware in colour and appearance; and it was probably this that had given rise to the account which former travellers had given of that substance, as the mineral used for the ware manufactured at that place.

The business of their second visit was to cast, or to make, before me a vessel of their ware. The apparatus which they brought with them on the occasion consisted of a broken cutchery-pot, to serve as a furnace; a piece of bamboo about a foot long as a bellows, or blowpipe; a form made of clay, exactly resembling a common hooker-bottom; and some wax, which probably had been used by several generations for the purpose for which it is yet employed.

The first operation was to cover the form with wax on all sides, which was done by winding a band, into which the wax was reduced as close as possible round it. A thin coat of clay was then laid over the wax, and, to fasten the outer to the inner clay form, some

iron pins were driven through it in various directions. After this bad been dried for some time in the sun, the wax was liquified by putting the form in a place sufficiently beated, and discharged through the hole, by which the melted metal is poured in to occupy its place. It is scarcely necessary to say that when the metal is sufficiently cooled the form is broken, and the vessel found of the desired shape.

Colouring the ware with the standing black, for which they are celebrated, is the next, and in my opinion the most remarkable operation. It consists in taking equal parts of muriate of ammonia and saltpetre earth, such as is found at the bottom of old mud walls in old and populous villages in India, mixing them together with water, and rubbing the paste which is thus produced on the vessel, which has been previously scraped with a knife. The change of colour is almost instantaneous, and, what is surprising to me, lasting.

The saltpetre earth of this place has, when dry, a reddish colour, like the soil about Biddery. It is very likely that the carbonate, or oxide of iron, which it contains, is essentially necessary for the production of the black colour. The muriate and nitrate of lime, which is in considerable proportion in all earth from which saltpetre is manufactured in India, may be perhaps not an useless ingredient in

this

respect.

The hooker-bottoms of this ware happen sometimes to get tarnished, acquiring a brownish, or shillering colour, which is easily removed, and the black restored, by rubbing

the whole surface with a little oil or butter.

As nothing looks handsome in the eyes of an Indian but what is glittering with gold or silver, it may be imagined that their hooker and betel dishes, which are chiefly used on festive occasions, are not left destitute of these ornaments; they are chiefly decorated with silver, in the form of festoons, fanciful flowers and leaves. Sometimes I have seen a little gold interspersed.

The way of inlaying them is very simple; but of course as tedious as can well be imagined, and could be only practised where time is of little value. The parts of the projected figure are first cut out in silver leaf, which are placed in a piece of broken earthen ware before the artist, who cuts with a pointed instrument the same figure on the vessel, applies the silver leaf, piece after piece, and gently hammers it into its place.

The greateft skill consists in tracing the pieces of the figure on the vessel exactly of the same size as they are in the silver leaf, and in this I have never seen they are mistaken.

They do their work very expeditiously, and will make any figure on copper with the greatest nicety, according to the sample which is laid before them.

NOTE. Mr. Wilkins informed Dr. Heyné that the Biddery ware is likewise manufactured in Benares, and he thinks that zinc is used as an alloy in that part of India. I examined a piece of a metal statue which Mr. Wilkins considered as Biddery ware: it was zinc alloyed with a very little copper.-T.

MISCELLANIES

MISCELLANIES.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE DREADFUL ACCIDENT WHICH HAPPENED AT FELLING COLLIERY, NEAR SUNDERLAND, ON MAY 25th,

1812.

ELLING is a manor in the

parish of Jarrow, about a mile and a half east of Gateshead, in the county of Durham. It contains several strata of coal, the uppermost of which were extensively wrought in the beginning of the last century. The stratum called the High-main, was won in 1779, and continued to be wrought till the 19th of January, 1811, when it was entirely excavated.

The present colliery is in the seam called the Low-main. It commenced in October, 1810, and was at full work in May, 1811. Messrs. John and William Brandling, Henderson, and Grace, have each a fourth share, both in its royalty and in the adventure: they have also a lease from the Dean and Chapter of Durham, of a large extent of coal, lying on the south and east of the manor of Felling.

The working or down-cast shaft is called the John Pit, and is situated on the north side of the

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up the workmen, when the machine chances to be crippled, or repairing; and when it lies idle on pay Saturdays and on Sundays. Here is also a high tube of brickwork, employed in assisting ventilation while this shaft was sinking, and till the communication by the narrow boards and the drifts was opened between the two shafts: since that it has been of no use.

The up-cast, or air furnace shaft, is called the William Pit. It is on an eminence 550 yards southwest of the John Pit, and is distinguished by a whim gin and a lofty tube of brick-work. This shaft is 232 yards deep.

Over each pit two iron pullies were suspended on a kind of scatfold, called the shaft-frame. In these ran the ascending and descending ropes. The pullies over the John Pit were six feet in diameter, and weighed nine cwt. apiece. Those in which the rope

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