PRODUCTS OF BENGAL 287
prettier is to be seen anywhere. Some of these cottons
and silks are so fine that it is difficult to say whether
a person so attired be clothed or nude. Many other
kinds of work, such as furniture and vessels, are con-
structed with extraordinary delicacy, which, if brought
here, would be said to come from China.
In this country is made a large quantity of small
black and red pottery, like the finest and most delicate
terre sigillee; in this they do a great trade, chiefly in
gargoulettes (earthenware vessels) and drinking-ves-
sels and other utensils. There is a great quantity, too,
of huge reeds or canes, as big as a man's thigh, and six
or seven fathoms high, hollow inside, and knotted like
those here. They are harder to break than any wood
in the world; of these, levers and rods are made to
carry over the heaviest weights, and are used through-
out India, even at Goa and elsewhere: so much so, that
the Portuguese and the Indians use no other poles
for their palanquins and litters: these are everywhere
called Bambou (bamboo). When one of these is bent
into any required curve and heated, it remains so al-
ways, and will sooner break than lose its curve. Of
these, too, are made their measures for measuring all
their goods, such as rice, grain, oil, butter, and the like.
Measures of all sizes are made of them. These reeds
grow in quantity elsewhere in India; but this is their
original home, and here they are found in greatest
plenty. These canes will not bend double; and they
are mottled black and white. There is another kind,
of a different shape and thickness, the largest of this
