METHOD OF COLOURING KRIS BLADES. 43 
weapon with wax, put on after warming the blade, as a protection from 
the corroding action of the acid, which would otherwise eat into the 
thin edges and make them ragged. 
The blade being clean, there are two distinct ways in which the 
solution of arsenic may be applied to it. These are known respectively 
as masak and mantah, or cooked and raw. 
Warang masak must be done at night, and if there is any wind 
blowing, under a mosquito net. The arsenic is prepared in the following 
way for colouring two kris blades. Take 12 cloves, 15 peppercorns, 
six bird peppers, one nutmeg, and a piece of the root of a red-flowered 
climber called aker cheraka (Plumbago rosea) of the size of half a 
nutmeg. Grind up all these things on a sankalan, or Malayan curry-stuff 
grinder. Put into a cup and add the juice of one lime and a-half, and 
allow to stand. Strain through a piece of cloth, and to the fluid add 
about half a drachm of powdered arsenic. The reddish-coloured crude 
arsenic sold in the bazaar is preferred by some, and the white by others. 
The mixture is then put into a small cup, or what is considered better, the 
shell of the large bivalve that lives in the mangrove swamps. The 4u/it¢ 
krang then has a temporary wooden handle, made of a split stick with a 
sliding ring of rattan, fixed to it, and is held over a fire and the contents 
allowed to boil until the mixture is reduced to about one-half, and 
becomes almost of the consistency of cream, when it is removed from the 
fire. The blade is then taken by the shank in the left hand, and the hot 
mixture of arsenic applied to it with the fingers of the right hand. It is 
worked and rubbed all] over it, in the same way as the lime-juice was 
applied before to clean it, more of the mixture being added from time to 
time as required, and occasionally a little coconut milk. _ If all is well, the 
blade will be seen to slowly darken in places, and the damask come into 
view, zatk pamor, as the Malays say. The rubbing is continued until 
portions of the blade are nearly black. This takes from about 30 to 
40 minutes. The milk of a coconut whose shell is just beginning to 
darken is put into a basin and the fingers are dipped into it, and slowly 
the arsenie is washed off. After it is all removed, the blade is rubbed for 
some ten minutes with the coconut milk, and is then dried witha cloth, and 
afterwards gently rubbed with a tuft of the fine shavings of a piece of 
dry bamboo. This dries, and at the same time slightly polishes the parts 
of the blade that have not been darkened with the colouring mixture, 
particularly those thin bright lines of steel known as pamor perak. 
A good blade will now show all the tints and gradations of colour, 
from a fine black to pure white. The final operation is giving the blade 
a slight coating of coconut oil. This is rubbed on sparingly all over it, 
and then wiped off again as far as possible. This makes the blade look 
brighter, and it also serves to protect it from rust. 
The second method, known as warang mantah, is- performed as 
follows. The blade having been cleaned in one of the ways already 
described, is dried and put out in the sun to warm. A lime is taken and 
carefully peeled, a piece is cut off with the blade, and some of the juice 
squeezed out on to it. With the fingers this is rubbed all over the blade, 
then the wetted finger is dipped into the dry powdered arsenic and 
rubbed on; more lime-juice and arsenic are taken as required, and the 
