17 



'"PHIS appropriately name J cloth if 

 Malays of the Straits and th 



"KAIN PELANGI." 



By L. WRAY. 



is now much in fashion with the 

 the Federated Malay States. It 

 would appear to be of quite modern inti-oduction, thou^jh it has 

 oln'iously ])een developed from the much older tie-and-dye work so 

 extensively employed in India for the decoration of clotli. The 

 earliest examples of it, in the Native States, came under my observa- 

 tion in about the concluding vear of the last centurv. 



■■& 



The Malay name means " rainbow cloth." It, however, dit¥ers 

 very materially from the cloth which was brought out in Europe 

 under this name some few years ago. This had no pattern, but was 

 dyed to represent the colouring of the spectrum, the colours grading 

 one into the other. In the " kain pelangi," on the other hand, there is 

 a regular pattern, but the colours employed are the brightest tints 

 obtainable with aniline dyes of various hues ; hence its name. 



The cloth is almost iuvarialily silk. In Singapore, the white silk 

 is bought, and comes either from Japan or China. In Tringganu, it is 

 locally woven, especially for this purpose. The work is done entirely 

 by female labour. In Singapore, the women are Boyanese, from the 

 island of Bawean, off the coast of Java ; and in Tringganu, thev are 

 natives of that State. This manufacture is also carried on in 

 Kelantan, and possibly in other localities, but the svibject has oulv 

 been studied by the writer in Singapore and Tringganu. 



The silk is spread on a short-legged table, haviug a padded top. 

 The pattern is then printed on it, in ovitline, by means of carved 

 wooden stamps. These are cut out of comparatively soft wood and 

 are not so well finished as those used in stamping the " kain telepoh." 

 The design is also only in outline, no broad-printing surfaces being- 

 left. The stamp is pressed on to a pad of wet rag impregnated with 

 red ferruginous earth bought from the Kling shops. This sub- 

 stance is called " khavi," and is the pigment used by the Hindus 

 for making the caste-marks on their foreheads. The stamp having 

 been charged with colour is next rubbed on a stiff brush, which is 

 fastened with its bristles upwards on the tray containing the pig- 

 mented pad. It was a common European boot-brush. The stamp 

 after brushing is applied to the cloth. The stamps are small, contain- 

 ing only a single flower or a portion of a border, and considerable 

 judgment and skill is required to build up the pattern with them. It 

 is all done by eye, no register marks being used as in England when 

 printing patterns by means of wooden blocks. The outline is thu.s 

 formed in rather pale-red lines which wash out in the subsequent 

 process. The stamping of the outline is done by the same people wlio 

 do the dyeing. 



J)ec,y 1906, 



