[Anon.], ‘India and Indian Contributions to the Industrial Bazaar’, Illustrated Exhibitor ([1852])

As a fitting introduction to a more extended notice of the rare and valuable contributions from this important adjunct to the British Crown, the people introduce the celebrated Howdah lately added to the collection by Her Majesty. Neither in Persia would the proverb of ‘giving an Indian answer’ have been considered equivalent to a cut with an Indian sword, unless the Hindoos had possessed the ore which enabled them to manufacture their far-famed wootz steel; and gunpowder is likely to have been invented at an early age only in a country where ‘villanous saltpetre’ is abundant. The collection equally astonishes by the beauty and variety of the woods, and the ingenuity and industry of the natives. Among the numerous and highly interesting models and implements illustrative of Hindoo life, and particularly of its arts, some are especially worthy of notice as exhibiting the processes of the Cotton Manufacture, for which the people of India have been celebrated for ages.