DYEING. 123 



Silk and Cotton Dyeing by Malays. 



By W. W. Skeat. 



In Kelantan and Patani the material of which sarongs, lain 

 lepas, etc., are made is now almost invariably silk or cotton 

 thread imported from Singapore, but in out-of-the-way inland 

 districts a few Malays of the older generation still manufacture 

 a coarse but durable thread of native vegetable fibre (home- 

 spun). In the latter case the dyes most commonly used were 

 blue (biru) and purple (umu) with occasionally some green ("ijau 

 or einpo) and a little yellow (kuning or tfila). Red, though 

 much admired, was not commonly used owing to the difficulty 

 of making it fast. When silk is to be dyed, from four or ten 

 kali's weight is now usually bought from peddlers or in the 

 bazaar at from $4 to $4.50 per hati (l^lbs). The following 

 are the processes by which the required colours are obtained, 

 both silk and cotton thread being similarly treated. I may 

 add that the numbers correspond to a series of standard colours 

 which were shown to my informants when the information was 

 obtained, but which it is unfortunately impossible to reproduce 

 here. 



Red: — (1) To dye a Jcaii of silk red from ten to fifteen 

 fruits of the asam gelugor, * with two or three common 

 tamarinds, and as much alum as will cover the nail of the 

 fourth finger, are together put into a pan (blanga), and heated 

 up to boiling-point (sapa bergelegak).f The silk is plunged into 

 the liquid, which is kept on the fire till the whole has been w T ell 

 boiled, when the pan is taken off and allowed to stand all night. 

 Next morning the silk is kneaded to clean it (di-kichah, Selangor 

 kinchah) taken out, and dried in the sun, and put out in the dew 



Garcinia alrotnrldis. — //. N. R. 



f I have given exact Kelantan and Patani pronunciations in this 

 article as likely to lje of most interest to the reader, — IV. S. 



R. A. Soc, No. 38, 1902, 



