317 
grained Parchment, or Shagreen . 
whitened, must be left to soak in the pickle for twenty - 
four hours. The dye is prepared from cochineal, which 
the Tartars call Icirmitz. About a pound of the dried 
herb tschagann , which grows in great abundance in the 
neighbourhood of Astracan, and is a kind of soda-plant 
or kali, ( salsola ericoides ,)* is boiled a full hour in a ket- 
tle containing about four common pailfulls of water; by 
which means the water acquires a greenish colour. The 
herb is then taken out, and about half a pound of pound- 
ed cochineal is put into the kettle, and the liquor is left to 
boil a full hour, care being taken to stir it that it may not 
run over. About fifteen or twenty drams of a substance 
which the dyers call later (orchilla) is added, and when 
the liquor has been boiled for some time longer the kettle 
is removed from the fire. The skins taken from the pickle 
are then placed over each other in troughs, and the dye- 
liquor is poured over them four different times, and rub- 
bed into them with the hands, that the colour may be 
equally imbibed and diffused. The liquor each time is 
expressed ; after which they are fit for being dried. Skins 
prepared in this manner are sold at a much dearer rate 
than any of the other kinds. 
* The beautiful red Turkey leather is dyed with cochineal prepared in the 
same manner. Professor Gmelin, junior, in the second part of his Travels 
through Russia, explains the herb tschagann by artemisia annua, having doubt- 
less been deceived by the appearance the plant acquires after it has been dried. 
Besides, this artemisia is found only in the middle of Siberia, and never on tire 
west side of the Irtisch. 
