168 



GREEN INDIGO. 



Chap. VIII. 



cured by Mr. Edkiiis, and may therefore be fully 

 relied upon. 



" The bark of two kinds of the tree known as 

 the 'green shrub' (Luk-chae), one wild, which 

 is called the ivhite^ and another cultivated, which 

 is called the yellow^ are used to obtain the dye. 

 The white bark tree grows abundantly in the 

 neighbourhoods of Kea-hing and Ningpo ; the 

 yellow, is produced at Tsah-kou-pang, where the 

 dye is manufactured. This place is two or three 

 miles west from Wang-tseen, a market-town situ- 

 ated a little to the south of Kea-hing. 



" The two kinds are placed together in iron 

 pans and thoroughly boiled. The residuum is left 

 undisturbed for three days, after which it is placed 

 in large earthenware vessels, and cotton cloth, 

 prepared with lime, is dyed with it several times. 

 After five or six immersions the colouring matter 

 is washed from the cloth with water, and placed in 

 iron pans to be again boiled. It is then taken up 

 on cotton yarn several times in succession, and 

 when absorbed in this way it is next washed off 

 and sprinkled on thin paper. When half dry the 

 paper is pasted on light screens and strongly 

 exposed to the sun. The product is called Luk- 

 kaou. In dyeing cotton cloth with it ten parts 

 are mixed with three parts of subcarbonate of 

 potash in boiling water. 



" The dye made at Tsah-kou-pang is not used 

 to dye silk fabrics, because it is only a rough 

 surface which takes it readily. To colour silk 



