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Show It was my plan to proceed to Kurmira, the village where the paper wa actually made, but my Indian hosts would not think of permitting me t walk over the rough path to the mill a few miles distant-the mill and it workers must be brought to me! And this was actually accomplished, fo one mor we w their village and had borne upon their heads all manner of pa cquipment. The yard surrounding the cottage was to be th demonstratio ind, for in Bengal paper is made i n s dug in th earth to receive the baked clay jar to be used in the maceration of the material, the large roun g.mhum ar ‘moulds, drying-frames, an cottage yaxd was switly being transformed into a Bengal handmade pape ‘mill. The old papermakers who were to present the demonstration forme a picturesque group, with their flowing black beards and gaily coloure zobes. These workmen were of much lower caste than the aristocratic gentlemen who had been entertaining us, and therefore they were not formall introduced to me. Inasmuch as the artisans had all come from ancien papermaking families, they all bore the surname Kaghazi (Papermaker) their given names were Munsubati, Arman, Lhahebali, Makbnl, Dibarbax Samswrah, Ansn, and Ahammed-all descendants of papermakers wh had seen their prime long before America ceased to be an English colony thograph 76 ‘Thes an workers went through every branch of papermaking for my edi e oot B stamper, photograph 77 trodden in the pottery jar, then the macerated pulp was washed. Pho tograph 78. This cleaning process was accomplished in a nearby stream the beaten material was placed in a loosely-woven cloth suspended between the wurker and a bamboo pole, somewhatin the manner of Kashmir, execp in Kashmir a second worker assumed the place of the bamboo. Th Digital image © 2005 MarriottLibrary Universit of Utah, All rihts reserved |
