SOME REMARKS UPON SHELLAC. 205 



no substitute can be found. For wood polish it is a necessary ingredient, 

 and our pianos and other pieces of beautifully polished furniture would be 

 less pleasing to the eye were we deprived of shellac. In varnishes used by 

 the upholsterer and others, its presence cannot be dispensed with ; while 

 the dye, which forms an integral part of this gum resin, is so much used by 

 the woollen manufacturer, that even the gay clothing of our soldiers would 

 be dull and dim without the aid of the permanent and beautiful lac dye. 



Before speaking of its commercial relations, it may not be uninteresting 

 to refer more particularly to the manner and places of production. Our 

 supplies are obtained chiefly from the East Indies, the districts most noted 

 being Assam, Pegu, Bengal, and Malabar, and along the course of the 

 Ganges. 



The shipments are, however, made principally from Calcutta. In the 

 districts above named there are two or three very large establishments at 

 which they employ more than a thousand hands. Besides these factories, 

 there are numerous makers on the small scale. A feeling of secrecy 

 pervades the establishments, and strangers are refused admittance. On the 

 twigs of certain trees, known as the Ficus religiosa, Ficus indica, Rliamnus 

 jujuba, Croton lacciferum, and the Butea frondosa, found in the jungle and 

 forests of India, a small insect called the Coccus lacca fixes, and there 

 deposits a certain quantity of a dark coloured resinous matter. This, on 

 careful examination, has been found to be the stomachs of those insects left 

 there after death as food for their larvse, the outer or specially resin coating 

 being intended for the shelter and protection of the young. It is about the 

 months of November or December that the brood make their escape from 

 their previously protected habitations, and fasten themselves in their turn 

 upon the small branches. As these increase (which they do very rapidly) 

 the twigs or stems become completely covered, and at a particular season 

 of the year are collected, placed in sacks, and carried to the manufactory. 

 These encrusted twigs are first ground in a mill to rough powder, and then 

 carried away to what is called the dye work of the establishment. Here 

 troughs are ready for their reception, and after being immersed in water, 

 the natives commence to tread upon the material, so as to remove the dye 

 from the resin, &c, and as this colouring matter is soluble, it is in a short 

 time taken up by the water, run off into other suitable vessels, water again 

 added, and the process continued, with the addition of fresh quantities of 

 water, until the whole is completely exhausted. The remains are then 

 collected, the woody fibre, &c, got quit of, and the little particles which 

 remain freed almost entirely from colour, called and recognised in our 

 market as seed lac. The different waters which have thus taken up in 

 solution the colouring matter of the stick lac, is run into cisterns or vats, 

 where the deposition in course of time takes place, and then the powder in 

 the form of paste is partially dried, put into square cases, stamped, and 

 thoroughly dried, forming the regular lac dye of commerce. It is sent home 

 to this country in those small square blocks, and reduced to powder for the 

 purpose of trade. I may as well dismiss this part of my subject by stating, 



