62 THE SEA-DAYAK METHOD OF MAKING THREAD. 
cotton are put on a mat in order to go through the second 
threshing in order to reduce it to a still thinner lapis, 
this time to the thickness of a sheet of thick paper. 
The following evening the lapis is to be diluli, which 
means to say it is to be rolled up into the thickness of one’s 
finger so as to be ready for spinning. A luli is an instru¬ 
ment from six inches to a foot long, pointed and not 
bigger than one’s little finger. After the lapis is rolled 
round the luli twice or thrice, it is cut off and placed in a 
basket. The cotton thus rolled is called luli also. The 
luli are then attached to a spinning-wheel {gasing) and 
spun into thread one by one. When the shuttle-pin 
{mata gasing or “eye of the spinning-wheel”) is full up 
the thread is stretched in the koali or cotton-stretcher. 
It is then taken out and dipped in rice gruel {kanji) for 
some little time—this is called the process of nyikat; after 
being well saturated it is taken out and stretched length¬ 
ways in the ruai by means of two bamboos. After this it 
is combed with a cocoanut husk in order to smooth it and 
to take off any rice grains that are sticking to it ; it re¬ 
mains thus until quite dry, when it is rolled up into a ball 
or balls; this last process being called nabu. The thread 
is now ready for the further processes of dyeing and 
weaving. 
There are various kinds of Davak cloth, which are 
obtained by different processes of dyeing. The following 
are the principal kinds :— 
(i) Kain chelum, or black cloth. This is obtained 
by dipping the white thread first of all into engkerbai 
water for a night, a mixture made by boiling the leaves 
of the engkerbai shrub and mixing some chunam 
with it; this gives a pink colour to the thread, which 
is then washed and dried. In order to get the black 
colour it is dipped into a preparation of tarum water 
(made from the indigo plant in the same way as the 
engkerbai water). It is again washed and dried and will 
then be ready for use. 
(ii) Kain or pua mata, which literally means “the 
unripe cloth,” but technically speaking is the non-red 
cloth. 
(iii) Kain or pita engkudu, which means the red 
cloth. The thread of this is called ubong embun because 
it has to be exposed to the dew for so many nights, the 
exact length of time depending on the woman who 
