Crafts.

The crafts and industries of Kolaba are only of local consequence. The chief crafts are working in iron, copper, gold and silver the weaving of gold thread and silk and wool, pottety, wood-work, palm-juice tapping, salt making, fishing, dyeing, and shoemaking.

Copper and Brass Work.

Copper and brass work goes on in all market towns, Pen, Nagothna, Roha, Ashtami, Thal, Nizampur, Ghodegaon, Alibag, Revdanda, and Mahad, and in some country towns and large villages. The workers are' Kasars by caste, of whom not more than 200 families work in copper and brass, and-none of them on a large scale. Kasars sometimes make pots from copper, brass, and tin sheets brought from Bombay, and sometimes retail pots bought ready made in Bombay. They seldom have capital, and in order to buy the copper and brass have to borrow from moneylenders. the craftsmen who bring the copper and brass sometimes have workmen under them, but they generally work the metal into shape with their own hands. None of the Kolaba brasswork is of special value, nor are the wares in steady demand. Kasars work from morning to night, except three or four hours spent in taking meals and in rest. They keep all ordinary Hindu holidays, and rest on the last day in every Hindu lunar month when work is forbidden. Women and children help by blowing the bellows. The average yearly earnings of a coppersmith amount to about £10 (Rs. 100), Besides what he sells in his village, the coppersmith generally carries his wares for sale to market towns and villages. Kolaba brassware rarely leaves the district. The price of copper paries from 7½ d. to 10½d. (5 as -7as.) the sher. Coppersmiths are said not to be so well off as formerly. Very few of them have capital, and as they have nothing to pledge for the money they borrow, they have to pay such high interest as to leave little margin of profit.

There are two sub-divisions of the Kasar caste, whose name is the same, but whose occupations are different. One branch works in copper and brass, the other deals in bracelets of coloured glass, either made by themselves or brought from Bombay, Poona, and Vai in Satara.

Glass Bangles.

Glass-bangles are made at Rajivli in Mahad. The work is carried on by eight men of the Bangad-Kasar caste. Green glass is brought from Bombay, and mixed with pieces of copper to deepen the shade of green. It is then laid on an earthen platter or peral and melted in a furnace. A round tapering iron rod is swiftly turned by the left hand in the melted glass. The glass sticks to the rod, and, by beating it with a second thin rod held in the right hand, it is somewhat hardened, made to loosen its hold on the rod, and given a roughly circular form. This rough bangle is afterwards placed on a pear-shaped earthen mould, which is spun by the left hand, and, with the help of the thin rod in the right hand, is shaped into a bangle. These bangles are brittle breaking readily if struck against anything hard. They are made only in the months of Shravan (July-August) and Phalgun (March-April), when the makers who are husbandmen are free from field work. During those two months every bangle-maker prepares about fifty-six pounds (2 mans) of bangles. The cost of making 100 bangles is 6d. (4 as.), [The details are Glass, one sher, one anna; copper one anna ; fuel one anna ; wages of two men for about an hour one anna.] and they are sold at the rate of 7⅛d. (4¾ as.) the hundred or 7s. (Rs. 3½) the man. The bangles are worn by Hindu and Musalman women. The bangle-makers earn about 1s. 6d. (12 as.) from one man of Langles or about 3s. (Rs. 1½) for the season's work. The bangle-makers are poor, the demand being small owing to Chinese competition.

Gold and silver.

Gold and silver work goes on in all but very small villages and  especially in market towns. The craftsmen are Sonars, of whom not more than 300 families earn their living as goldsmiths. Besides in gold and silver Sonars work in pearls, gems, brass, and tin. The raw silver and gold are brought by people who wish to have them made into ornaments. The Sonars work the metal and are paid partly by the weight of the metal worked and partly by the style of ornament made. Few Sonars are men of capital and ready articles are rarely offered for sale. Few of them live on what they earn as gold and silver smiths. Most of them own soma land, though they seldom work in it. Some wealthy goldsmiths have forsaken their hereditary craft for moneylending, and some both lend money and work as goldsmiths. The goldsmith's business is most active in the marriage and harvest seasons. Sonars generally work from six to ten in the morning and from two to six in the evening. They receive no help from their women and children, except in blowing the bellows. The average earnings are trifling, not above £10 (Rs. 100) a year. Sonars are not a prosperous class, and they have no trade organization.

Gold and Silk.

Gold thread and silk weaving are carried on only in the Alibag sub-division, mostly in Alibag town and at Cheul and Revdanda. The workers are Salis, of whom not more than fifteen families are employed as weavers. They make ends of turbans, silk waistcloths or dinner-cloths, waistcloth edgings, tassels, and girdles. They also string ornaments of gold and silver on silk-cord. The tools of the Revdanda silk-weaver are the gada or hand-wheel for unravelling the raw silk, costing 3s. (Rs. 1½); the pitdi a little piece of wood with a handle on which the raw silk is rolled in small quantities off the hand-wheel, costing 9d. (6 as.); the rohol or spinning machine, costing £1 (Rs. 10); the ada or frame set with pegs upon which the silk is drawn off from the spinning machine, costing 10s. (Rs. 5); the mag or loom, costing £1 (Rs. 10); two large brass vessels for colouring the silk, costing £1 (Rs. 10); and grinding-stones for colours, 4s. (Rs. 2), the value of the tools and appliances amounting in all to about £4 (Rs. 40). After the silk thread has been drawn off the ada, it is boiled in water containing the impure carbonate of soda, and then washed in fresh water and afterwards soaked in alum and pressed. It is taken out next day and put in the colouring matter. The colours used are crimson, yellow, and green. The silk is brought from Bombay. The workers are not generally men of capital; they buy the silk and gold thread with borrowed money and work them up. The industry is on a small scale, and no labourers are employed. The silks are in steady demand. The weavers work for nearly nine hours a day and keep the ordinary Hindu holidays. The women and children help in the reeling and sorting of the silk. The cloth is largely bought by local high-caste Hindus, and in the cold season by people from Thana and Bassein. Their busiest season is from December to April. The prices of dinner-cloths or pitambars vary from £1 to £5 (Rs. 10-Rs. 50), or even more according to the quality and quantity of the silk, the fineness of the article, and the demand. The craft is not nourishing as imported silks can be had cheaper and better. Besides dealing in silk Salis make the coloured paper ornaments, which are used at weddings by low-class Hindus for festoons and garlands. Some of them also sell snuff and prepare ink.

Cloth.

The handloom weaving of cotton cloth is carried on in Mangaon and Mahad, and a little in Alibag where a few weavers have recently settled from Sangameshvar in Ratnagiri and three looms are at present (1882) at work. The workers are Salis, of whom not more than thirty families earn then living by weaving. They weave the rough robes and waistcloths which are worn by the lower classes. Almost all the yarn is brought from Bombay. Few handloom weavers have capital. Most buy their materials with borrowed money. The demand for their cloth is steady. The weavers work for eight or nine hours a day and keep the ordinary Hindu holidays. Their women and children help in the work. Their average earnings are very small, perhaps about £5 (Rs. 50) a year. They have no trade organization.

Wool.

Wool working is carried on at Mapgaon, Malgaon, and Alibag in the Alibag sub-division, and at Roha. The workers are Dhangars from the Deccan, of whom about 100 families earn their living by blanket-making. They have looms and weave coarse blankets, some with the wool of their own flocks and others with wool brought from the Deccan. The wool is bought either with their own or with borrowed money. The demand for their blankets is so great that, though they work for eight or nine hours a day during the whole year, they are unable to supply the demand and are forced to bring blankets from above the Sahyadris. Their average yearly earnings amount to about £12 10s. (Rs. 125). The craft is flourishing. In Mangaon and Mahad, some Sangars or weaving Dhangars are engaged in making blankets which they sell to local merchants. The blankets vary in price from 1s. to 2s. (8 as. - Re. 1) according to texture and the quality of the wool. Their average daily earnings vary from 6d. to 9d. (4 as. - 6 as.). Most of them have money or credit enough to buy the wool they use end keep some readymade blankets in store.

Dyeing.

Rangaris or dyers found in towns dye turbans, scarfs, women's  robes, and shawls. They work during the fair season only, but, at times, both by night and day when there is much demand. Their women and children help. They are paid from 6d. to 10s. (4 as.-Rs. 5) a piece. Their dyes are kusumba, patang wood, lemon, amboshi, and khal paste which they bring from Bombay. As workmen they are honest but unskilful. There are no calico-printers in the district.

Pottery.

Pottery is made in almost every village and largely in most  market towns. The workers are Kumbhars, of whom not less than 500 families earn their living as potters. They are generally poor, many of them eking out a living by tilling land. as tenants. Except that in a few eases they have to pay a tax to the owners of the land for the earth they use, potters require no capital. The demand is generally steady and in May it is brisk. The women and children help by fetching and pounding the earth, mixing it with water, and by carrying the pots to market. The lower classes buy earthenware for storing water and grain and even for cooking, and the higher classes for keeping milk. Earthen pots are sometimes sent to Bombay for sale. Prom Alibag and Pen bricks and tiles are largely exported to Bombay and Janjira. The firm clay of Mapgaon in Alibag has attracted a large colony of potters, who supply the whole of the Alibag sub-division.

Tailoring.

Tailors or Shimpis are found in every town and large village, but, except two merchants in Roha and three in Mahad, few keep shops and sell cloth. They earn their living as tailors and are fairly paid. The work is steady. The women and children help the men in sewing. The average yearly earnings of a Shimpi vary from £8 to £10 (Rs. 80-Rs. 100). The craft is fairly prosperous; it has no trade organization.

Wood-working.

Wood-working is carried on in every town and large village.  The workers are carpenters who are Malis, Beni-Israels, Native Christians, Marathas, and Cutch Musalmans. The wood is supplied by the people who want articles made. A few Sutars keep shops, but most work for wages. Their work is steady and brisk during the house-building season, that is between October and June. The men work nearly ten hours a day; the women and children add nothing to the family earnings. Besides making field tools some carpenters make excellent boxes, chairs, and cupboards. Toys, cradles, dumb-bells, pegs, bedsteads, measures, and chessmen, after supplying local wants, find a ready sale in Bombay.

Iron.

Iron work is carried on by Lohars in towns and large villages. A few have shops and keep a stock of field tools, spades, sickles, and spoons. But most work up metal brought to them by their customers. Lobars have almost ceased to make razors, knives, and other fine articles which are now imported from Europe. A blacksmith's work is steady during the house-buildiug season (October-June), when they make nails and other iron articles. A blacksmith works nearly ten hours a day. The women and children help in blowing the bellows. The craft is not flourishing as readymade articles are obtained at cheaper rates. Some Beni-Israel families work as blacksmiths, especially in the Alibag and Roha sub-divisions.

Palm-Tapping.

Palm-tapping is carried on in the garden villages of Alibag and in a few villages in Rona and Nagothna. The tappers are Bhandaris of whom more than 1000 families used to live by tapping, but, owing to the change in the excise system, not more than 100 families are now employed. They tap cocoa-palms, wild palms or bherlimads, and fan-leaf or brab-palms. The Bhandaris either own the trees themselves or hire them from others. The chief instrument used in tapping is a heavy broad-bladed knife. Labourers are sometimes employed who are paid 6d. (4 as.) a day. The work is steady throughout the year. They tap thrice a day, in the early morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening, and on each occasion take from one to three hours according to the number of trees they have to tap. Women and children take no part in the tapping. The palm-juice is sold to the liquor-contractor at 7s. (Rs. 3½) a gallon.

Salt.

Salt was formerly made in Alibag, Pen, and Roha. In 1874 all the salt-works or agars in Alibag and Roha were closed, and, except the Ashtami agar which is too rocky for tillage, most of the Alibag salt-pans have been turned into rice fields. In three places in Roha and in six in Alibag salt was naturally produced, but earth mounds were raised, the inlets of the sea stopped, and the whole salt produce destroyed. To the west of Pen and to the north of Dharamtar thirty-four salt-pans, varying from five to 125 acres, stretch about three miles broad from Dharamtar to the mouth of the Amba. Vashi which includes several hamlets, is the most important of the salt villages, and is reached by a fine broad road which branches from the "Dharamtar road about a mile and a half from Pen. After leaving Vashi the road turns east to Kane, the distance from the Dharamtar road to Kane being five miles. Next to Vashi, the most important villages are Shirki, Vadav, Kane, and Odhangi. The thirty-four works are arranged in eight groups. They include 4614 pans, which cover an area of 1572 acres and have 350 owners. In 1880-81, these works yielded 598,083 mam or 22,151 tons of salt, on which Government realised an excise duty of £108,731 (Rs. 10,87,310). Most of the salt-pans are owned by Brahmans and Prabhus. The owners do not make the salt, but let the pans to Agris. The rent varies from a half to a fourth of the net produce. At the beginning of the fair season the makers prepare the salt-pans or kundis by beating the earth with a flat plank until the ground is hard and water-tight. The salt-making season lasts from March till June. During this season the pans are filled with sea-water from a channel cut from the nearest creek. The Supply is regulated by opening or closing the channel. The water is then left from ten to fifteen days to evaporate. When the water has dried salt crystals, remain, which are gathered in small heaps on the edge of the pan. Next day these small heaps are gathered into large heaps and placed on a raised platform. During the season a, pan generally yields five crops of salt.

When a dealer wants to buy salt he goes to the pans, chooses what he likes, and settles the rates with the pan-owner or shilotri. An application is signed by the buyer and the seller and forwarded to the salt-duty collector, where it is registered. There the duty is calculated and when the duty is paid a permit is issued. This permit is taken to the head clerk of the work, where the salt is weighed by the clerk and a peon. It is next packed in small bags, and the bags are marked with red numbers. Those going inland are examined by the superintendent at Khacharkhind toll, a mile east of Pen. Boats laden with salt are examined immediately after leaving the Amba and Antora creeks, at a barge moored off Karatrja. Salt used to be carried loose. The system of carrying salt in bags has proved a most efficient check on smuggling. [Details of the salt trade and the salt system are given in the Thana Statistical Account, Bombay Gazetteer, XIII. 363-378.] Pen salt is not all used locally it is sent to Poona, Satara, Sholapur, Ratnagiri, Thana, and the Pant Sachiv's state.

Fishing.

Fishing is carried on in all sea-shore and creek-bank villages  and the towns of Alibag, Revdanda, Cheul, and Thal are noted for their fish. In parts of Nagothna there are a few Gabits and Kharvis but most of the fishers are Son Kolis of whom nearly 3000 families live by fishing.

Butchers' Work.

Butchers, who are either Musalmans or Maratha Khatiks, are  found in small numbers in all large villages. The Alibag Dhangars both keep sheep and act as butchers. In the town of Alibag there are three butchers' shops kept by Dhangars, and one shop where live sheep brought from-above the Sahyadris are sold. In Pen four shops are kept by Musalmand who buy sheep and goats from wandering Dhangars.

Shoemaking.

In Mahad and Pen there are some good shoemakers or Chambhars. They make shoes and sandals at their houses, and sometimes hawk them in villages and towns. A pair of shoes or sandals costs from 6d. to 2s. (4 as.-Re. 1). The Chambhars are helped in their work by their women and elder children. Besides what are made locally a large number of shoes are brought from Bombay. The only industry that has died out is paper-making.