98 
The lac employed is ordinary shellac bought in the 
local bazaars where also the needful pigments are 
obtained. 
The preparation of the coloured lac is done by the 
workpeople themselves in many workshops, and I was 
fortunately able on one occasion to be present during 
the making of a stick of red lac such as is used in 
colouring red shakhas. For the vermilion that is 
required, a quantity of the purplish red crystals of 
hingol (cinnabar) is obtained. This is ground down to 
a fine powder upon a disc-shaped stone of fine-grained 
granite or gneiss by means of a pestle consisting of a 
short stumpy pebble, roughly conical in shape (Pl. X 
fig.1). One tola weight of cinnabar to three tolas’ 
weight of shellac is the proportion employed. When 
the pigment has been sufficiently reduced, two-thirds of 
the total amount of shellac requisite is first fashioned by 
heat into the form of a small cup within which the 
powdered cinnabar is placed, the remaining third of 
shellac being warmed to pliability and then used to 
close the aperture of. the ‘cup. Whe next stage visata 
thoroughly amalgamate the contained powder with the 
lac walls of the cup, a process calling forth a great 
amount of dexterity. The whole mass is deftly rotated 
over a charcoal fire till soft and pliable and then kneaded 
thoroughly for a considerable time by the help of two 
short sticks of the size and length of lead pencils. ‘The 
softened mass is twisted about over the fire and repeat- 
edly “wound” from the end of one stick to that of the 
other and back again, the operation being repeated till 
incorporation be complete. The mass is then formed 
into a pencil-shaped stick and is ready for use. 
In the lacquering of a bangle, a short segment of 
the circle is heated over a small charcoal fire made in 
the cavity of a wide shallow chatty, a portion of the 
bangle being laid directly upon the glowing lumps of 
charcoal. As soon as hot enough, the workman removes 
the bangle and rubs a portion with the end of the thin 
stick of lac. A short length only is covered at each 
application as the bangle soon becomes too cool to melt 
the lac sufficiently; it is replaced upon the coals and 
then a fresh segment is covered and so on till the whole 
circumference has been worked over. In incised patterns 
required to stand out red upon a white ground, this 
