European ladies content themselves with one appendage at each ear; while the females of Hindostan think it impossible to have too many: thus, they affix a number of small rings, of pure gold, or, in case of poverty, of silver, or even of tin, all along the border of the ear; which is pierced for that purpose in at least a dozen places, to receive these ornaments, from which much distress often arises, owing to the veil (already described) frequently hitching upon the small hooked ends of the wire.
The nose has its share in the decorations of the Hindostanee fair, it usually bearing two ornaments; one, called a _n’hut_, commonly passed through the left nostril, consists only of a piece of gold wire, as thick as a small knitting-needle, with the usual hook and eye, and having the centre, or nearly so, furnished with several garnets, pearls, &c. perhaps to the number of five or six, each parted from its neighbour by a thin plate of gold, usually having serrated, or escaloped edges, and being fixed transversely upon the wire, which passes through their centres, as well as through the garnets, pearls, &c. The diameter of the circle of a _n’hut_ may be, ordinarily, about two inches and a half. On the coast of Coromandel, a similar ornament is worn by men of respectability, in each ear.
The other nasal trinket is called a _bolauk_; it is flat, something in the form of that article of furniture called a footman, and has a small ring, with hook and eye, at its narrowest part, for the purpose of appending it to the middle of the nose, by means of a gold ring passing through the _septum_, or division between the nostrils; the ornament lying flat upon the upper lip, and having its broad end furnished with pendants, similar to those on a _joomkah_. It is inconceivable what some women undergo for the sake of displaying their riches in this way! Not only does the _bolauk_ interfere with the operations of the lips during meals, but sores of the most unsightly description are often created, in that very tender part to which the ornament attaches, by those innumerable accidents, which not even the most constant vigilance can prevent.
The neck is not forgotten among those lavish decorations of which the sable ladies are so fond; it is furnished with various kinds of necklace, of which I shall describe only the _chumpauk-gully_. This is made of separate rays, each intended to represent a petal of the _chumpauk_, (a flower indigenous throughout Asia,) and having a fixed ring, or staple, at its butt, so that the whole may be strung close together, perhaps to the number of forty pieces, or more. This ornament is usually worn rather loose, that it may reach half way down the bosom. The mounting is gold, or silver, according to the means of the wearer; and the rays, or petals, are, in imitation of the _maung-teekah_; either chrystals, set on foils, chiefly white; or they are precious stones, of one color, throughout the ornament.