66 Indian Forest Records. [VoL- VIII 
There is always a ready market for kiri , which fetches prices 
about one-quarter to one-fifth of the price of TN. The yield is four 
to five seers of kiri to each maund of good shellac. 
Passewa is the substance which is boiled out of the bags 
after shellac has been made. It is whitish and opaque and, as it has 
been boiled out of the bags with the help of Fuller’s earth, it is pro¬ 
bably somewhat hydrolised. It is used in blends for TN manufac¬ 
ture and fetches about one-half the price of TN. The yield is about 
^ seer per maund of shellac. 
Molamma is the fine dust sifted out of grain-lac. It consists 
of very fine grains of lac mixed with powdered wood, animal remains, 
mineral dust, etc. The yield is about two seers per maund of good 
shellac. It is used in TN manufacture and for bangles and other 
uses to which kiri is put. 
Lac-dye or Rangbatti was originally the staple product of the 
lac industry, and was prized for its bright scarlet shade ; it was used, 
for exarrfple, to dye the British infantryman’s tunic. It is interest¬ 
ing to note that the word “ lake ” in Crimson lake is derived from lac— 
and the word “crimson” from the Arabic kirmiz (insects), from which 
the Urdu kiri is also directly derived. Puran Singh in his “Note on 
the Chemistry and Trade Forms of Shellac ” summarizes our existing 
knowledge of the chemistry of lac-dye. It is naturally fast to silk 
and wool but not to cotton ; as stated in the Introduction, its place 
has been taken by aniline dyes and between 1880—1890 it ceased to 
have any commercial importance. Nowadays the majority of the 
manufacturers throw it away, but seme work it up and find a small 
market for it in India, where it is used for the preparation of altas , 
balls of cotton wool soaked in the dye and used by Hindu women 
for colouring the soles of their feet. It is occasionally also used as a 
manure. During the recent war when other dyes were not procurable 
there was a slight demand for it and its price rose as high as Rs. 15 
per maund, but this was only a temporary revival. 
Manufacturers would give much to be able to re-establish a market 
for lac-dye. It should not be forgotten, however, that the dye suffers 
from all the defects inherent in natural dye-stuffs. The following 
summary of the present position in regard to lac-dye has been kindly 
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