SARONG-MAKING. 245 



in front of the hotel to convey me to Djokjokarta, a 

 distance of forty miles, and the road in some places 

 being very steep, a pair of oxen were added when i-e- 

 quired. The scenery I passed through was much the 

 same as that before reaching Soerakarta. At Klaten, 

 about half way, I had tiffin, and inspected the making 

 of sarong cloth, called " battikken," for which the place 

 is famous. When the cloth is ready and the pattern 

 drawn on it with Indian ink or indigo, the mouth-piece 

 of a little instrument resembling a short cutty-pipe, its 

 handle of bamboo, and its bowl of copper, fitted on one 

 side with a fine sharp-pointed tube, is carefully made to 

 follow the design with the melted wax contained 

 in the little pot ; and when the entire piece is 

 finished, it is put in the vat holding the dye for 

 the ground colour, generally brown, thus leaving the 

 pattern yellow, as the wax does not take the colour, 

 but gives the material a glossy and silky appearance. 

 I have also seen some very handsome sarongs, in 

 different shades. This process, of course, needs repe- 

 tition, according to the number of colours required. 

 Cotton is the material generally used for these articles, 

 but silks are dyed in the same way. 



In working metals the Javanese are very clever, 

 and they show great skill in the production of the 

 well-known kriss, which every man, and often boy 



