Making the Red Dye 



13 



squeeze them a little, increasing the pressure gradually. All this is done merely to 

 prevent the leaves from breaking. As the}' become more flaccid and spongy, the}^ 

 supply them with more of the juice, and in about live minutes the colour begins to 

 appear on the veins of the etou leaves, and in teu, or a little more, all is finished and 

 read}' for straining, when they press and squeeze the leaves as hard as the}' possibly 

 can. For straining they have a large quantity of the fibres of a kind of Cypenis grass 

 {^Cypenis stupeiis) called by them niooo^ which the boys prepare very nimbly by draw- 

 ing the stalks of it through their teeth, or between two little sticks until all the green 











E 



■ ■'•■'"a^I's-S?-* i^''- "^i 1^ 



^ -• ■ ', -V*' ^.C:- -<?'S ^h 





-•V 



-v\. C"^ 









:V, :.^^^, ■,-. .'^ ^ ,:C»fff^!fe.- 



IflG. 4. TAHITIAN FERN IN RED ON VELI.OW. 



bark and the bran-like substance which lies between them is gone. In a covering of 

 these fibres, then, they envelop the leaves, and squeezing or wringing them strongly, 

 express the dye, which turns out very little more in quantity than the liquor em- 

 ployed ; this operation they repeat several times, as often soaking the leaves in tjie 

 dye and squeezing them dry again, until they have sufficiently extracted all their 

 virtue. They throw away the remaining leaves, keeping however the /luwo, which 

 serves them instead of a brush to lay the colour on the cloth. The receptacle used 

 for the liquid dye is always a plantain leaf, whether from any property it may liave 

 suitable to the colour, or the great ease witli which it is ;ihv:iys obtained, and tlie 

 facility of dividing it, and making of it many small cups, in wliich the dye nui\- be 



