570 ANNUAL REGISTER, I817. 



This is one of the most useful 

 insects yet discovered, to Euro- 

 peans or natives. The natives 

 consume a great quantity of shell 

 lac in making ornamental rings, 

 painted and gilded in various 

 tastes, to decorate the black arms 

 of the ladies, and formed into 

 beads, spiral and linked chains for 

 necklaces, and other ornaments 

 for the hair. 



Sealing-wax. — Take a stick and 

 heat one end of it upon a charcoal 

 fire, put upon it a few leaves of 

 the shell lac, softened above the 

 fire ; keep alternately heating and 

 adding more shell lac, until you 

 have got a mass of tliree or four 

 pounds of liquified shell lac upon 

 the end of your stick ; knead this 

 upon a wetted board, with three 

 oimces of levigated cinnabar ; 

 form it into cylindrical pieces, and 

 to give them a polish, rub them 

 while hot with a cotton cloth. 



Japanning. — Take a lump of 

 shell lac, prepared in the manner 

 of sealing wax, with whatever 

 colour you please ; fix it upon the 

 end of a stick ; heat the polished 

 wood over a charcoal fire, and rub 

 it over with half melted lac, and 

 polish by rubbing it even with a 

 piece of folded plantain leaf held 

 in the hand, heating the lac, and 

 adding more as occasion requires ; 

 their figures are formed by lac 

 charged with Aarious colours, in 

 the same manner. 



In ornamenting their gods and 

 religious houses, &c. they make 

 use of very thin beat lead, which 

 they cover with various varnishes, 

 made of lac charged with colours ; 

 they prepare them, it is said, with 

 alum and tamarinds ; tlie leaf of 

 lead is laid upon a smooth iron 

 heated by fire below, while the 



varnish is spreading upon itj to 

 imitate gold leaf they add turme- 

 rick to the varnish. This art is 

 only known to the women of a 

 few families. 



Cutler's Grindstones. — Take of 

 Ganges sand three parts, of seed 

 lac washed one part ; mix them 

 over the fire in an earthen pot, 

 and form the mass into the shape 

 of a grindstone, leaving a square 

 hole in the centre ; fix it on an 

 axis, with liquified lac; heat the 

 stone moderately, and by turning 

 the axis you may easily form it 

 into an exact orbicular shape; 

 polishing grindstones are made 

 only of such of the sand as will 

 pass easily through muslin, in the 

 proportion of two parts sand to 

 one of lac. This sand is found at 

 Rajamahal ; it is composed of 

 small, regular, crystalline parti- 

 cles, tinged red with iron two 

 parts, to one of the black mag- 

 netic sand described by Muschen- 

 brook . 



The stone-cutters make their 

 grindstones of a crystalline stone 

 with black iron specks (corund) 

 beat into powder, and mixed with 

 lac, in the same proportions as 

 with the sand ; the coarse for 

 cutting, and the sifted powder for 

 polishing. These grindstones cut 

 down iron veiy fast, and when 

 they want to increase its power, 

 they throw sand upon it, and let 

 it occasionally louch the edge of a 

 vitrified brick. Tire same compo- 

 sition is formed upon sticki for 

 cutting stones, shells, &c. by the 

 hand. 



Fainting. — Take one gallon of 

 the red liquid, from the first wash- 

 ing of shell lac, strain it through 

 a cloth, boil it for a short tiiue, 

 then add h^lf [an ounce of soap 



earth 



