222 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



tightly about the whole bundle at each end. The 

 web thus prepared is soaked in the dye for some 

 two or three days, and then dried in a shady spot. 

 The wrappings upon the threads are waterproof 

 and protect the wrapped parts from the dye. When, 

 after the dyeing, the web is stretched upon the 

 loom, it presents the desired pattern in colour upon 

 the undyed ground. The undyed weft is then 

 woven across the web in the usual way. And since 

 the threads of the weft do not appear on the 

 surface, the dyed parts of the web present a 

 uniformly coloured surface (PI. 121). 



In most cloths two colours, as well as the 

 natural colour of the thread, appear on the surface 

 — the commonest colour being a warm brick 

 red (obtained from the bark of the samak tree) 

 and a dark purple (obtained from the leaves of 

 the tarum plant). Lime and gypsum are some- 

 times mixed with the watery extracts as mor- 

 daunts, but these are probably modern refinements. 

 When two colours are to appear, those parts of 

 the web which are to be of one colour (say purple) 

 are wrapped up during the immersion in the red 

 dye together with the parts that are to appear un- 

 coloured. When this first dyeing is completed 

 the web is prepared for the purple dye, by uncover- 

 ing the undyed parts which are to be purple, and 

 wrapping up in bundles the threads which have 

 already been dyed red. After being soaked in the 

 purple dye and dried, all the wrappings are removed 

 from the web, and the desired pattern in three 

 colours appears upon it when it is stretched. 

 Perhaps the most noteworthy feature of the opera- 

 tion of dyeing is that the woman generally wraps 

 up the threads in the way required to produce the 

 pattern without any guidance, judging the length 

 and number of the threads to be included in each 

 bundle purely by memory of the design aimed at. 



