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| INTERIOR OF THE EAST INDIAN BUILDING - Our
engraving truthfully portrays the novelty, beauty and diversity of
the scene within the doorway of the beautiful East Indian Building.
After the lithe and well-bred figures of the Hindoos, and the
numerous idols that arrested the eye, probably the carved doors of
sandalwood were the exhibits to be remembered and wished for. Here
were exposed for sale, but at high prices, gold, silver and metal
wares, ivory, marble, alabaster, stoneware and pottery, muslins of
Bahar and Rahoon, the tinsel muslin of Delhi, the chintzes of Jeypoor
and Joodpoor, the gold-figured muslin of Benares, and the sacred gold
cord and sacrificial thread of the Brahmins at Bignor. In carpets
and rugs the display was equally comprehensive, with offerings from
Scrinaggar, Amritsir, Delhi, Meerpoor, Ahmedabad, Presidency and
Warangel, all containing from fifty to eighty knots to the inch. One
carpet woven in the dominions of the Nizar of Hyderabad contained six
hundred knots to the inch. The large area near the doorway was
always closely crowded with visitors, who drank tea and chatted with
the agreeable Singhalese, who sold pieces of sandalwood and more
costly articles to all who visited to purchase. The bazaar was
managed by S. J. Tellery, a successful merchant of the East, who
intended to make permanent arrangements for trade in America. |
