7 OLDENLANDIA UMBELLATA. 
sappan) and alum, which has been prepared a day or two (the Mala- 
bar painters boil the sappan wood, as mentioned before for dying) ; 
and those that are to be purple, blue, or green, with their shades, 
are done with the martial solution, called by the Gentoos Cassim, 
which has been already taken notice of. 
The chints painter's pencil is the most simple that can be con- 
ceived; a small bit of bamboo or other stick, tapering to a point 
like a skewer, and split at the point for about one inch, with a 
bit of rag or a little hair tied round it about an inch from the 
point, in form of a ball; this receives and retains the colour em- 
ployed, and the point of the pencil is kept moist by gently squeez- 
ing the moistened ball, which is easily done by the hand that holds 
the pencil: with wonderful dexterity a good painter will run over 
a piece of cloth in this manner. 
Fourth day. The operation of delineating the outlines of the 
figures being over, the cloth washed in cold water and half dried, a 
decoction of chay root is prepared, about ten or twelve ounces in 
powder to each gallon of water, sufficient to cover the cloth per- 
fectly, so as to let it be easily moved about in the liquor during the 
boiling, which must be gentle, and for about an hour and an half; 
the cloth must remain in the liquor till perfectly cold, it is then 
washed out in cold water, and dried. , 
Fifth day. The next work is to repeat the first part of the ope- 
ration, viz. to wet well the half finished cloth in a mixture of pow- 
dered caducay nuts in milk and water, and dry it in the sun or shade. 
Sixth day. The parts that are to be of the best and brightest 
red are now shaded with an infusion of turmerick and alum in cold 
water, (such as was employed on the fourth day in dying red) those 
that are to be red-purple (the literal translation of the Telinga 
words yerra-bannas, which is a deep brownish purple) have the 
light shades covered with wax, which is done with the common 
painting pencil above described and melted wax: when finished, 
these parts are to be done over with the following mixture; cassim 
one part, sour conjee (pullagalli of the Telingas) and infusion of 
sappan wood, each four parts; the wax prevents this colour from 
tinging the parts it adheres to: the work is dried in the shade, and 
put by for that day. 
Seventh day. It is washed in cold water, when half dry boiled 
in a decoction of the roots, as on the fourth day, and when cold well 
wrung out, and immediately wetted in the mixture of milk, water, 
and caducay, as on the second day, only the proportion of milk is 
diminished, dried, and put by till next day. 
Highth day. The parts that are to be of the best red, as mentioned 
on the sixth day, have the parts that are to be shaded light, covered 
with wax, and over the whole of these the turmerick infusion with 
alum is to be applied the second time. : 
Ninth day. Wetted in cold water for a few minutes, and dried 
in the sun. 
Tenth day. The parts done with turmerick, &c. as on the eighth 
day, must be again done over with the same colour, which is the 
third time. The parts that are to be purple have their light shades 
done with melted wax, and covered with a mixture of one part of 
cassim and two of sour clear rice gruel. 
Eleventh day. Wash it in cold water, and boil it in a decoction 
of chay for one hour or so, half dry it in the shade ; then return it 
into the decoction, boil it again for some time, half dry, &c. repeat- 
ing the boiling, or rather scalding, and half drying, for they must 
be gentle, for the whole of this day; at night it is put into a mixture 
of fresh cow-dung and water, and there remains till the morning. 
Twelfth day. It is washed out, exposed on grass to the sun, and 
watered as it dries; this requires two or three days to make the un- 
painted parts of the cloth perfectly white again, for the chay will 
OLDENLANDIA UMBELLATA. 8 
not stand bleaching, except where it has been fixed with alum; on 
such places it stands every sort of washing and bleaching, provided 
the process has been properly performed: those parts in the above 
description are the flowers, kc. that were done with the infusion 
of sappan wood and alum, or with that of turmerick and alum, or 
both; neither the sappan nor turmerick infusion alone are of them- 
selves essential for fixing the colour of this root, they serve to lighten 
them, but the durability depends chiefly, if not entirely, on the 
alum with which they were mixed. . 
Fifteenth day. The twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth having 
been employed to whiten and clean the cloth, it is now starched 
with a decoction of rice, dried in the sun and beetled, when it is 
ready to receive the wax, which is melted, and with the pencil or a 
small brush laid over every part of the cloth that is not to be blue 
or green; when that is performed, it is put into the cold blue vat 
(which must be in a proper state for dying) for a few minutes, then 
exposed to the air, dipped and exposed to the air alternately till it 
has received a sufficient quantity of the dye, wrung half dry and 
washed out in cold water; it is then put into scalding water to take 
off the wax (which is not injured by the operation, but serves to 
wax other pieces with); the cloth, or rather nearly finished chints, 
must now be washed with soap and cold water, and left in a weak 
solution of soap the whole night. 
Sixteenth day. In the morning wash it out with more soap and 
cold water; expose it to the sun on the grass, and sprinkle it with 
water as it dries, at night wash it in cold water and put it by. 
Seventeenth day. Wash it out with soap and water, and expose 
it to the sun, sprinkling it with water as it dries for two or three 
hours only ; wash it in cold water, and dry it in the sun; the whole 
is now to be wetted in a mixture of milk and water, dried in the 
sun, and put by till next day. 
Eighteenth day. Take a small quantity of aldecay in powder, 
boil it well in a little water, with this, when cold, the parts that are 
_ to be green (they having been already dyed blue) are painted over 
and dried in the shade; after which they are to be done over (fixed) 
with a strong solution of alum, and dried in the shade. A strong 
lixivium of washerman’s earth (earth of cretaceous soda) is now 
prepared, the chints is well wetted in it, wrung out, and put by for 
the night. oy 
Nineteenth day. Wash it out with cold water, and then with 
soap and water; then expose it to the sun, and sprinkle it with 
water as it dries for a few hours; after which it is to be washed 
again in cold water, and dried in the sun. There now remains only 
that part of the process which prepares it for the market, viz. starch- 
ing, beetling, and chanking; this last is similar to calendering, 
which is performed with a smooth shell rubbed backwards and for- 
wards over the painted side of the chints, till it has acquired a very 
high gloss or polish. 
The Telinga physicians do not give any part of the plant a place 
in their Materia Medica; but the Malabar physicians say that the 
roots cure poisonous bites, the cold, and the itch, and warm the con- 
stitution. 
4. STRYCHNOS NUX VOMICA. 
Linn. Spec. Plant. 271. 
Musadie of the Telingas. 
Trunk short and crooked, but pretty thick. 
Branches irregular: both are covered with smooth ash-coloured 
bark. 
