[1832.] or Japanned Ware of Ava. 171 



called En-gyen* is esteemed. A little of some scented wood is added, 

 but this, apparently, is not indispensable. This polishing powder is 

 called en-gyen-kyouk-tshowe amhonn. 



There are few colours which will preserve their tint when mixed 

 with this varnish; vermilion answers best. The Burmese prefer a 

 vermilion, which they make themselves, to that brought from China, 

 and it is certainly of a much brighter scarlet. Only one man at the 

 capital, and he is attached to the palace, is said to know how to make 

 this vermilion, which is called hen-za-pa-da yowe,, from the colour 

 resembling that of the little scarlet seed with a black spot named 

 glycine abrus or abrus maculafus in Marsden's Sumatra, 3rd edi- 

 tion, p. 171. There are two other descriptions of vermilion made at 

 Ava, called respectively hen-za-pa-da Awa and hen-za-pa-dah Gouk, 

 which last seem more like our red lead. The vermilion brought 

 from China is called hen-za-pa-da atshoun, and the Burmese say 

 that it is the refuse or grounds of the finest kind, and that it does not 

 mix well with theet-tsee. Red ochre or Indian red, called mye-nee y 

 red earth, gives a duller colour, and is used for lacquered ware of the 

 coarsest description. It is sometimes used also as a first coat, over 

 which the vermilion is applied. These paints, when used, are first 

 made liquid with a very small quantity of an oil brought from Laos, 

 called Shan-zee or Shan oil, and then mixed with theet-tsee, in the 

 proportion of three parts of the varnish to five of the vermilion. This 

 Shan-zee is said to be extracted from the fruit of the kuniyen tree, 

 (Dipterocarpus turbinatus,) the trunk of which yields the common 

 wood oil, used in the manufacture of torches at Tavoy and Mergui. 

 The Burmese however say, that the Shans conceal the manner of 

 making this oil, because if it could be manufactured in Ava, there 

 would be no occasion for importing it from Laos. It sells at Ava for 

 4 ticals per viss. The kuniyen tree, which is so abundant to the 

 southward, and which affords the inhabitants there so cheap a substi- 

 tute for candles, cannot be very common near the capital, where I 

 have never seen a torch, the petroleum only being used by all classes 

 for lights. A mixture of this Shan oil and theet-tsee, ten parts of 



* The same tree is mentioned in the inscription on the Rangoon great bell ; 

 see Asiatic Researches, vol. xvi, p. 271 and 276. — Gaudama was born under this 

 tree, and died between two of the same species. He was perfected into a Boodh 

 under another tree, the Nioung or Baudi beng, the Ficus Religiosa. I have never 

 been able to get a specimen of this Engyen tree, although I am assured that it is 

 to be seen to the south-east of Ava, and even at Moulmien, and in a fossil state 

 portions of it are to be found all over the country between Prome and Av.i. 



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