THE PROCESS OF DYEING SILK, 
645 
twenty five to each, and these are hung up 
in the house! The eggs that have been laid 
the first three days amounting to about two 
hundred are alone kept, they are tied in a 
piece of cloth and suspended to the roof until 
a few begin to hatch ; these eggs are white, 
and of the size of turnip seed : when a few of 
the worms are hatched, the cloths are put 
on small bamboo platters hung up in the 
house, in which they are fed with tender 
leaves ; after the second moulting they are 
removed to bunches of leaves suspended 
above the ground, under them upon the 
ground a mat is laid to receive them when 
they fall ; when they have ceased feeding 
they are thrown into baskets full of dry 
leaves, amongst which they form their co- 
coons. two or three being often found joined 
together. 
Tne caterpillar is at first about a quarter 
of an inch in length, and appears nearly 
black ; as it increases in size it becomes of 
an orange colour, with six black spots on each 
of the twelve rings which form its body, i’he 
head, claws, and holders are black ; after the 
second moulting they change to an orange 
colour : that of the body gradually becomes 
lighter ; in some approaching to white, in 
others to green, and the black spots gradu- 
ally become the colour of the body. After the 
fourth and last moulting the colour is a 
dirty white or a dark green : the white cater- 
pillars invariably spin red silk, the green 
ones white. On attaining its full size the 
woi*m is about three and half inches long : 
unlike the mooga caterpillar, its colours are 
uniform and dull : the breathing holes are 
marked by a black mark : the moles have 
become the colour of the body; they have 
increased to long fleshy points, without the 
sharp prickles the Mooga worm has. The 
body has a few short hairs, hardly percep. 
tible. 
In four days the cocoons are complete ; 
after the selection for the next breed is made, 
they are exposed to the sun for two or three 
days to destroy the vitality of the chrysalis. 
The hill tribes settled in the plains are very 
fond of eating the chrysalis ; they perforate 
the cocoons the third day to get them ; they 
do the same with the mooga and sell few 
cocoons imperforated. 
The cocoons are put over a slow fire in a 
solution of potash, when the silk comes 
easily off : they are taken out and the water 
slightly pressed out ; they are then taken one 
by one, loosened at one end, and the cocoon 
put overthe thumb of the left hand. With the 
right they draw it out nearly the thickness of 
twine, reducing any inequality by rubbing it 
between the index and thumb : in this way 
new cocoons are joined on. The thread is 
allowed to accumulate in heaps of a quarter 
of a seer, and is afterwards exposed to the 
sun or near the fire to dry ; it is then made 
into skeins with two sticks tied at one end 
and opening like a pair of compasses ; it is 
then ready to be wove unless it has to be 
dyed. 
The dyes used are lac, munjeet, and indigo, 
and the process of dyeing is as follows. 
RED DYE. — The lac, after ba%dng been 
exposed to the sun to render it brittle, is 
ground and sieved as fine as possible : it is 
steeped twelve hours in water, after v/hich 
the thread is thrown in with the leaves of a 
tree, called by the Assamese Lit akoo C— Pier- 
ardia sapida ? F. J.) When it has absorbed 
most of this mixture, it is taken out, put 
over two cross sticks, and shaken a short 
time, to detach the threads well from each 
other : it is dried in the sun and the same 
process again gone through twice. When 
it is wished to increase the brightness of the 
colour, it is again dyed with munjeet : the 
latter is dried in the sun and ground in the 
same way ; it is steeped for forty-eight hours. 
The threads are put in and boiled in the same 
way, but with the leaves of a different tree 
(the Kolx) : the thread is dried in the sun, and 
is ready for use. Nearly the same process 
is gone through for the blue : instead of the 
common indigo, they sometimes use the 
Room, which plant is, I believe, Ruellia 
callosa ; also the leaves of a very large tree 
found in the forests, called by them Ooriam. 
The thread is wove as cotton. The different 
prices of the cloths and their use will be 
found in an annexed table : their clothes are 
mostly used for house consumption ; a few 
are bartered with the Bhotias and other hill 
tribes. Large quantities were formerly ex- 
ported to Lassa by merchants, known in De- 
rung as the “ Kampa Bhotias.” 
“ MOOGA SILK. — Although the mooga 
moth can be reared in houses, it is fed and 
thrives best in the open air and on the trees. 
The trees w'hich afford it food are known in 
Assawi by tlui%llowing names : — 
1. Addakoory. 
2. Champa, (Michelia.) 
3. Soom. 
4. Kontooloa. 
5. Digluttee, (Tetranthera digloifica, 
Ham.) 
6. Patteeshoonda, ( Laurus obtusifolia, 
*• Roxb.”) • 
7. Sonhalloo, (Tetranthera macro- 
phylla, “ Roxb.”) 
SILK FROM No. 1. ADDAKOORY.— 
The Addakoox-y, the worms fed on which, 
produce the Mazankoory mooga, is a middle- 
sized tree, used for rearing worms only when 
under four years. It sprouts up where 
foi-ests have been cleared up for the cultiva- 
tion of rice or cotton. The worms that are 
put on the tree on the first year of their ap- 
pearance above the ground produce the best 
silk. The second year the crops are inferior 
in quality and quantity, and the third it is 
little if at all superior to the common mooga. 
The Mazankoory silk is nearly white, and its 
value fifty per cent, above that of the com- 
mon fawn-colored. 
The tending of the worms on this tree is 
much more laborious than on any of the 
others : young trees only being usdd, they 
