LAC MIXED WITH RESIN 



TACHARDIA 



LACCA 



Hmtory 



To this ( ireumstanoe i* due ako the fact of iu being often mentioned in lieU of 

 spices in place of among dyes or resins. Aoosta supplemented. however, Oareia 

 de Orta'8 account by the interesting particular that the resin lao wee mixed with. 

 or, as he calls it, adulterated with, common reein end wax. Thue then the 



.i.l ult. -IMI i..n in recent yean, often much complained of by the trade, ie not a 

 1 .1 ..luct of the greed of modern commerce. Mandelslo (TravtU. in Oleariuii. 



<//. etc., 1039, 27), speaking of the lacquer work of Gujarat, eaye, "They 

 give them such a lustre aa none yet could ever iruitnt. ..." Tavernier 



(Travels Ind., 1070 (ed. Hall), ii.. 2H1-2) observe* that " The country atao 

 |.r...lur-s an abundance of shell-lac. There are two kinds of it. That which ie 

 i,.niM-.l <>ii trees is of a red colour and is what they dye their calicoes and other 

 stud's \\ith. and when they have extracted this red colour thi-y use the lao to 

 lacquer catmints and other objects of that kind, and to make Spanish wax. A 

 large quantity of it is exported to China and Japan." Thevenot (Travels in 

 Levant, Indostan, etc., 1087, pt. iii.. 112) repeats the statement that lao wee 

 exported from Pegu. Lastly, Salmasius (Hiniana Exereitationet. 1680, 810) 

 asserted that the very name " lao " had been derived from the Greek and originally 

 denoted a red wood. He arrived at that conclusion chiefly through his own 

 supposition that the Indian name for the substance was tree, not lakh. Tree is 

 < louhtless a variant of the Pegu name cheik, and. as already abundantly indicated. 

 was carried to Europe through the Spanish trade between Burma and Sumatra. 



While a knowledge in lao was thus being gradually disseminated over Europe, 

 there are not wanting indications that within India itself the subject was not 

 being neglected. Thus in the Ain-i-Akbari (Blochraann, transl., 220), a work 

 often spoken of as the administration report of the Emperor Akbar for the year 

 1590, we read of the proportions of lac resin and certain pigments to be employed 

 in varnishing chicks or screens on the doors of public buildings. It would from 

 that circumstance seem highly probable that a coloured spirit varnish may have 

 been known and used in India long before Europe possessed any knowledge of v 

 that valuable substance. Fryer (New Ace. E. Ind. and Pert., 1072-81. 83) also 

 alludes to elegantly coloured chicks, but it may be added the modern chicks are 

 crudely stained with mineral dyes, never with lac varnish. 



The period of the struggle for European supremacy in the East was practi- 

 cally that of the birth of all definite knowledge in lac. But the scenes and the 

 persons change rapidly and the interest shifts from the dye to the resin, back 

 again to the dye, and finally once more to the resin. From the Portuguese on 

 the west coast of India the trade passed to the Spanish and Burma via Sumatra, 

 while a little later on (and in the hands of the British) it returned once more to 

 Bombay. In the Records of the East India Company (First Letter Book, 1600-19, 

 338, etc.) we are given certain glimpses of the Company's instructions to their 

 servants. " Gumlacre " was to be obtained from Cambay. " Gum lack " of 

 first and second sort was to be procured at Surat, " but none of the worst of any 

 hande." Private trade in gum-lac was prohibited. So again, of date 1616, 

 " much gum-lac, both of the sort used for dyeing and also that of which wax ie 

 made " was to be purchased in Surat. The following year the " lack " of Baroda 

 is said to be in " grains like mastic pure as amber." Of Agra it is observed there 

 are two kinds : " The one is in small sticks usually carried hence to Mocha : the 

 other is in great cakes. They both cost one price, viz., 8 rupees per maund." 

 The amber-coloured grains of Baroda were doubtless " washed seed lac," and 

 the great cakes of Agra would imply manufacture. Is the canna (kana = 

 grain) lacke mentioned in 1623 as purchased at Baroda simply washed lao t But 

 in these early records of the East India Company there is apparently no mention 

 of shell -lac nor of some of the chief centres of the present manufacture, such as 

 Mirzapore and Calcutta but of course the town of Calcutta wae not in existence 

 at the time indicated. The fact remains the same that the early records manifest 

 localities of production that are quite unimportant compared with other more 

 recent centres. 



The demand for cochineal served the useful purpose of pointedly directing 

 attention to the lac-dye. This,, though inferior, was found quite good enough for 

 most of the purposes to which cochineal was put, and had the additional advantage 

 of being considerably cheaper. A large trade in lac-dye accordingly sprang into 

 existence that gave the impetus for numerous lac factories owned directly or 

 indirectly by the East India Company. At this time was invented (and by 

 Europeans doubtless) the method of manufacturing lac-dye into special cakes Oakv ot 

 ready for use. Such importance did this new industry assume that it dwarfed 



1U5D 



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Gam l*c." 



lite 



stick 



ShaQ-Uo not 



