Part I. ] 
Steering : Note, on the Lac Insect. 
3 
Kusum (Schleichera trijuga) and the Palas tree (Butea frondosa), the 
latter of which is known in Sanskrit literature by the name of Lakhsa- 
taru or lac-tree. The aboriginal tribes throughout India recognise 
the Palas tree as the lac-tree, and the industry would seem to have an 
antiquity of several thousand years in the country. 
In ancient times, as at present, the resinous material or shellac was 
more valued in India than the lac-dye. It was the latter, however, 
which was first exported to Europe. 
That the lac-resin was used as a varnish some centuries ago is evi- 
denced by the fact that in the Ain-i-Akbari issued by the great AIcbar 
in 1590, a note is given on the subject of the proportions of the resin 
to be employed in the varnishes used for the wood work of public build- 
ings. 
One of the earliest European writers on the subject of lac was a Dutch- 
man sent to India on a scientific mission by the King of Portugal. His 
explorations were published in 1596, an English edition issuing in 1598. 
He gives full particulars as to the uses of the resin, but shows that he 
was totally ignorant as to the agency by which the substance was 
formed.* 
CHAPTER III. 
THE GROWTH OF THE INDUSTRY. 
The cultivation and collection of lac was, and practically still is, 
chiefly in the hands of the aboriginal races of the poorer parts of the 
country, and the methods of propagation and collection still in force 
are those which were in existence centuries ago. These methods satisfied 
the demand for the article in the comitry and, until quite recently, 
that of the export trade. This latter has developed but slowly. It took 
nearly half a century for the properties of the resin to be fully appre- 
ciated in Europe. As we have seen, it was the dye which first made its 
appearance in Europe, and its export was long limited by the diflficulty 
experienced in extracting the colouring matter and applying it to manu- 
factures at home. At first the value of the export was about two lakhs 
from which it fell to less than one lakh. In 1820-21 it again rose, and in 
1824-25 its value exceeded seven lakhs. Its great competitor was 
cochineal, for wh'ch it was used as a substitute. 
* Asiatic Journal, 1831, p. 220. 
