In return for receiving the hides of the village cattle the Chamar
had to supply the village proprietor and his family with a pair
of shoes each free of payment once a year, and sometimes also the
village accountant and watchman; but the cultivators had usually
to pay for them, though nowadays they also often insist on shoes
in exchange for their hides. Shoes are usually worn in the wheat
and cotton growing areas, but are less common in the rice country,
where they would continually stick in the mud of the fields. The
Saugor or Bundelkhandi shoe is a striking specimen of footgear. The
sole is formed of as many as three layers of stout hide, and may be
nearly an inch thick. The uppers in a typical shoe are of black soft
leather, inlaid with a simple pattern in silver thread. These are
covered by flaps of stamped yellow goat-skin cut in triangular and
half-moon patterns, the interstices between the flaps being filled
with red cloth. The heel-piece is continued more than half-way up the
calf behind. The toe is pointed, curled tightly over backwards and
surmounted by a brass knob. The high frontal shield protects the instep
from mud and spear-grass, and the heel-piece ensures the retention of
the shoe in the deepest quagmire. Such shoes cost one or two rupees
a pair. [465] In the rice Districts sandals are often worn on the
road, and laid aside when the cultivator enters his fields. Women go
bare-footed as a rule, but sometimes have sandals. Up till recently
only prostitutes wore shoes in public, and no respectable woman would
dare to do so. In towns boots and shoes made in the English fashion at
Cawnpore and other centres have now been generally adopted, and with
these socks are worn. The Mochis and Jingars, who are offshoots from
the Chamar caste, have adopted the distinctive occupations of making
shoes and horse furniture with prepared leather, and no longer cure
hides. They have thus developed into a separate caste, and consider
themselves greatly superior to the Chamars.