Chap. VIII. 



GREEN INDIGO. 



169 



with it so mucli of the material must be "ased that 

 it will not pay. All cotton fabrics, also grass- 

 cloths, take the colour readily. The dye does not 

 fade with washing, wJiich gives it a superiority over 

 other greens. 



"It is sent from Kea-hing as far as Shantung. 

 It is also made in the province of Hoonan and at 

 Ningpo, but the dye at these places is said to be of 

 an inferior quality. It has long been used by 

 painters in water-colours, but the application of 

 it to dye cloth was first made only about twenty 

 years ago. If some method could be discovered 

 of applying it to silk fabrics it would become still 

 more useful." 



The information obtained by Mr. Edkins on this 

 subject is, no doubt, perfectly correct. It agrees 

 in the most important particulars with what I had 

 gleaned from time to time amongst the Chinese 

 in various parts of the country. The chips he 

 brought with him from Kea-hing were identical 

 with the " Soh-loh," or "Loh-zah" (Rhamnus sp.), 

 which I have already mentioned, and his state- 

 ment that two varieties of the plant are used 

 to produce the dye agrees with my own observa- 

 tions. 



The mode of extracting the dye from the bark 

 or wood (for both seem to be used), as practised by 

 the Chinese, appears to be slow and tedious, but 

 with our superior knowledge of chemistry this 

 might possibly be improved. 



From these investigations it would appear that 



