THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



THE EED DYE-STUFFS OF INDIA. 



BY M. C. COOKE. 



Pursuing- the course adopted in the paper on " The Yellow Dyes of India 

 and China," we now proceed to enumerate briefly the principal red dye- 

 stuff's of India. Those of China are at present too little known, or those 

 with which we are at all acquainted are too unimportant, to merit attention. 

 The majority of the substances used for dyeing red in India partake of the 

 characteristics of madder, although that substance is itself but sparingly 

 used. The place which in Europe is occupied by madders is in India sup- 

 plied by the morindas and munjeet. This latter substance has found its 

 way into the European markets, but it has generally had a difficult matter 

 to compete with the madder dyes already in use. The treatment it requires 

 is similar; but although the native dyer of India prefers his munjeet and 

 chay-root, the British dyer has still greater faith in the long-tried 

 madders. Had a different treatment been required, it is to be questioned 

 whether it would ever have experienced a trial here at all, since so little 

 inclination is exhibited for new processes or new products, except they can 

 be used as cheap substitutes for those in vogue. This is not the case solely 

 with dyes, but with other commercial products. 



Neilgherry Munjeet, the produce of Rubia tinctoria, observes Dr. 

 Cleghorn, " is abundant on the higher slopes of these mountains. This 

 indigenous dye is used to a considerable extent by the Badaga tribe, whose 

 crimson striped cloth is coloured with this root ; but I cannot learn that the 

 article is exported for merchandise, although one or two small consign- 

 ments are said to have been sent to Europe. Messrs. Flynn & Co., of 

 Madras, applied to me for a quantity of the root, and prepared a cake of a 

 carmine colour, which produced satisfactory results. This creeper grows 

 most luxuriantly in all the hedgerows about Ootacamund and on the slopes 

 down to Wynaad (3,000 feet), so that the root is procurable at the simple 

 cost of Cooly hire. I observed that the roots are larger and redder at the 

 greater elevation, becoming knotted and duller as the altitude lessens." 



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