Major Burney on the Lacquered-Ware of Ava. 439 
called En-gyen,* is much esteemed. A little of some scented wood is 
added, but this is apparently not indispensable. sig This polishing powder 
is called En-gyen kyouk tshoowe amhoun. 
There are few colours which will preserve their tint when mixed with this 
varnish ; vermilion answers best. ‘The Burmese prefer a vermilion which 
they make themselves, to that brought from China, and it is certainly of a 
much brighter scarlet. Only one man at the capital, and he is attached to 
the palace, is said to know how to make this vermilion, which is called 
Han-za-pada yowe,@) from the colour resembling that of the little scarlet 
seed with a black spot, named glycine abrus, or abrus maculatus, in Marspen’s 
Sumatra, third edition, page 171. There are two other descriptions of 
vermilion made at Ava, called respectively han-za-pada-ayé, and han-za- 
pada-gouk, which last seems more like our red lead. ‘The vermilion 
brought from China is called han-za-pada-atshoun, and the Burmese say, 
that it is the refuse or grounds of the finest kind, and that it does not 
mix well with the ¢heet-tsee. Red ochre or Indian red, called myé-nee, 
red earth, gives a duller colour, and is used for lacquered ware of the 
coarsest description. It is sometimes used also as a first coat, over 
which the vermilion is applied. These paints, when used, are first 
made liquid with a very small quantity of an oil brought from Laos, 
called Shan-zee or Shan oil, and then mixed with ¢heet-(see, in the pro- 
portion of three parts of the varnish to five of the vermilion. This Shan- 
zee is said to be extracted from the jruit of the Kuniyen tree,t the trunk of 
which yields the common wood oil, used in the manufacture of torches at 
Tavoy and Mergui. The Burmese, however, say that the Shans conceal the 
manner of making this oil, because if it could be manufactured in Ava 
there would be no occasion for importing it from Laos. It sells at Ava for 
four ticals per viss. The Kuniyen tree, which is so abundant to the south- 
ward, and which affords the inhabitants there so cheap a substitute for 
candles, cannot be very common near the capital, where I have never seen a 
torch, the petroleum only being used by all classes for lights. A mixture of 
this Shan oil and theet-tsee, ten parts of the latter to three of the former, is 
used as a semi-transparent varnish. When put over any other than black, 
* The same tree is mentioned in the inscription on the Rangoon Great Bell.—See Asiatic 
Researches, vol. XVI. p. 271 and 276. 
+ The numbers within brackets refer to the list at the end. 
¢ Dipterocarpus turbinatus. 
