Los Angeles daily herald., 1884-10-24

ny n RNAhhA hthNNAAfl
A traveller who recently visited Baku and
other places on or near The Caspian Sea, IN
order TO purchase DAghestan rugs, states that
the woods Of oriental rugs are dyed with the
same coloring matters that were used for the
purpose In ancient times, and that these
dyestuffs are Of vegetable origin
Iierodotus Book CLIO, relates that people
living near the Caspian Sea obtained from
leaves the dyes With which they stained
their garments, aud that water would not
rmoye the color. This would not neees.
sariiy Indicate the use Of mord ants but
mordan's were known ayes ago. Pllny de.
serlbes the process Of dyeing With mordants
which had long been praoiced by the Egyp.
tsns, who were skilled in tropical dyelng
their products probably were like the many
e1lored cloths Of Sldon, mentioned by
,mer In India the dyeing Of cotton cloth
with fast-colored patterns calico, by the aid
o alum, her "a substitute for gals, and
tssim tacetaie OF from, was practiced i1
prehistoric times
Madder Is one Of the Oldest dyes: elotl
dyed with il II found on Egyptian mumuiiei
and II was In general use In the time VI lie
r0dofus. Excepting the mgjiahfhd OF ia,
ancient sanscrit ("mungect, q species o
madderl, probably the carliest specific men
ton Of madder, In any writing, Is founG Il
the Chinese classics; the following
are from tho she King" (iio0k 0f Poeitisl
rho madden plant on the bank" "alo Ii
The thin white SIX and the naddei dyet
ad.dress." Colorcd silk Is iro ncntl!
.heniioned IN the oldest Chinese b0es-, nnl
1t is stated that silk was nrst spun by tn,
wife of tho Emperor Hosng III, bui there Il
reason TO believe that silken fabric aud Tho
art OF dyeing aill originated In India Or
where the mulberry tree Is indlgonuus-Per
sta. Dr. koxburgh mentions dark c0lOrcd
silk called Tussuch doot HES, cheap and
memorial In Bengal In the time Of Alexan
der the Great, bright colored SILKS were
brought TO Greece from Persia.
Quoting again from the SIR King; They
make dark fabrics and yellow our red
manufacture IL very brilliant. Il Is for tho
lower robes Of our Young princes" Thi'
red dye may have been derived from q
npeclcs of lac Insect. assuming that 4
knowledge of silk dyelng was carried to
China from india II IL probable, for thort
iacsha tlacl from the Coccus flcns, was
used for the purpose from the most remote
period Of Hindoo history, The color may
have been obtained from native insect
allied 10 the COeous Illclcs tkcrmcsl from
which the Phmnlcians obtained bright red
dye According TO Tychson, the scarlet OF
kerines dye was known In the East ia tho
mentioned as "foia schdnf, or simply tolh .
Bancroft, quoting Bischof In support OF
Tychsen, assumes that 'the color which i
monlloned In Exodus, chaps. NXVI XVIII
and XXXIX, las one Of the Mrce which were
prescribed for the curtains of the tabernac ia
aud for the holy garments Of Aaronl, was no
other than blood rod color dyed from the
that the spaniards obtained the word kermas
from the Arsblans, the French produced
from II the words "cdrmtsii, cdrmfir und
eramofsf. whence the English word crimson
was borrowed, Pllny describes crimson
called hysginus, after q flower no named
which was produced by combination oi
ksrmes with rnreI and buccinupt--and thi,
brings US 70 the famous Tyrlsn purple. Tht
dye was obtained from two Kinds OF she'll
fish. described by Pliny, under the name,
conohylium, purpura. murex aud bucclnuu
According to ancient historians, II was dis
covered and Used at Tyre 400 or 1900 b. O
Pliny stntes that tho best purpurm tpolagn
In Asia, were found near Tyre, similar she'll
fish are found In various parts OF the wOrlc
The prosperity OF Tyre was chiefly due tt
It's many dyeing embellishments, and the
to distinguish ciyil and military rulers o
many countries, and the highest members
Of the sacerdotal classes. Homer clothed
his heroes with purple dyed garmonts and
their priests aud kings. J0sephus, that wis,
aud excellent Pharlsee, who was fanillai
with ''the inner court OF the temple and
abode among. the high priests" referring
20 the walls of tho tabernacle, tBook Iii
Chapter VIl) tells us that the purple sgni
fed the sea, because the color Is dyed b,
the blood Of q sea shell-fsh." lie also says
"rhe scarlet tkcrmcsl, WIN naturally be Al
indication OF FIRE, aud that "ar Is repre-
scented by the blue" this blue was probabl,
produced by the use OF indigo
The Hindoo name OF indigo, nil, signify
ing blue (which word was also used by thu
Egyptians, who obtained the dye from
India), became the Portuguese anil, whenc,
our word aniline, which body was first mad.
from indigo, indigo was used for dyeing, Il
india, three thousand, and probably fou
thousand years ago. Plants of the sam,
NATURAL order Ms those from which 1t IL oh
tained are found In different parts OF tn,
world, but tho preparation and use OF indig,
originated with the Hindus. Piny state
that tndfcum came from India, and that
was second In value only to Tyrian purple
Other ancient dyes OF India We're saiiiower
tnrmeric, anacardium, sampfen, and tn
htund Of the Arabians
Ure states that the Romans used alum
sopperas, blnc yitriol, alknnel, lichen rocel
las or archil broom, woad, nut gals, seed
oil pomegranatc and of Egyptian acacia.
Virgil mentions iuium, used for dyetnl
yellow, which was probably the weld plan
or reseda eola.--Ttrtiio t0iorist