THE INDIGENOUS DYES OF BENGAL. 29 



(c) The methods described in some instances may not have yielded dyed cloth, 

 even in the hands of the native dyers, who may not have discriminated between cloth 

 properly dyed and cloth merely charged with unfixed colouring matter. 



When I have been unable to obtain a satisfactory dyed sample by the native 

 methods, I have resorted to methods employed in Europe It is well known that the 

 fastness of a dye depends not only on the nature of the dye-stuff itself, but also to 

 some extent on the nature of the fabric and on the auxiliaries used in dyeing. There 

 is, therefore, always the possibility that these dye-stuffs may, in the hands of the 

 native dyers, yield dyeings of superior fastness to those obtained in Europe from 

 the same materials. An examination of the native methods gives rise, however, to the 

 conviction that this possibility is very remote, and that from any given dye-stuff 

 European dyers will obtain a dyeing as good as, if not superior to, the native produc- 

 tion. 



A very general defect of Indian methods of dyeing is their inability to give really 

 full shades. As this indicates that there is little affinity under the conditions between 

 the dye-stuff and the fabric, such methods cannot be considered as satisfactory. 



Turmeric. — Process described by Banerjee (loc. cit., p. 21, § 82 (i.)). 



(1) Turmeric decoction prepared by soaking dry root in water, pounding, then 

 adding more water and straining through a cloth. One seer of turmeric gave two 

 seers of decoction. The cloth was soaked for five minutes in this decoction, washed 

 lightly in water and then dipped in water acidulated with juice of the lime. A full, 

 bright yellow shade was obtained. 



(2) As in process (1), but water acidulated with juice of lime replaced by a ten 

 per cent, alum solution. The colour produced was slightly duller than (1). 



Kusum. — The method described by Banerjee (loc cit., pp. 16-17, 22 ) gave quite 

 satisfactory dyeings, both full and lighter shades. One-quarter of a pound of the florets 

 was mixed with two seers of water and worked with the hands for fifteen minutes or 

 so. The water was then decanted off through a coarse cloth strainer. Fresh, cold 

 water was added and this process was repeated until the water strained off was practi- 

 cally colourless. This preliminary washing of the florets was done six times and occupied 

 36 hours. Then one and a quarter tolas of sajimati and one and a half pounds of cold 

 water were added to the flowers and the mixture well worked with the hands and 

 allowed to stand four hours The liquor was then strained off through the cloth and 

 acidulated with the juice of the lime. Cloth was dyed to a full red shade in this liquor 

 at the ordinary temperature in fifteen minutes. A bath giving lighter shades was 

 obtained by working the residual florets with a further quantity of water , straining and 

 acidulating with a little lime-juice. 



Bakam. — Mention is made both of the wood and the bark for dyeing purposes. 

 Only the wood was available in the bazaars of Calcutta. According to McCann (loc. 

 cit., p. 3) a simple aqueous decoction made by boiling the wood in water may be used 

 for dyeing, but frequently alum is added to the decoction. These methods appear 

 from the descriptions to be applicable for both cotton and silk, but on cotton I was 

 quite unable to obtain satisfactory results by either method. 



