Those who are interested in this line of work are advised to try these two processes upon silk, where very beautiful and interesting effects can be produced with but little difficulty. The resist process, using Sulphur colors, gives quiet soft tones on silk, fast to the hardest kind of washing. But brighter shades, equally fast to light, and fairly fast to washing, can be made with the discharge process by using Salt colors. For ordinary work the Acid dyes, of course, would be used, and these, too, as a rule, discharge readily. CHAPTER XVII BATIK The last and perhaps the most interesting and most important process to which we shall call our reader’s attention is one which, after being practised in the East for many centuries, has been brought quite recently to the attention of European and American craftsmen. The term “Batik” is a Javanese word, signifying painting in wax, and the process, somewhat modified, is known to professional dyers and calico-printers by the name of “wax resist.” When in the hands of a trained draughtsman the process has a charm and character of its own, which will warrant the interest now manifested in it, wherever it has been introduced. =History.=—Batik was first introduced by the Dutch discoverers of Java, who, in 1648, sent home descriptions, with drawings, of the wonderfully beautiful textiles worn by the people, especially by the chiefs of that country. The art was known and practised in the East long before that time, for in Madras goods were made, by a combination of block printing and Batik, at least as early as the fifteenth century. And in the interior of Java there are some famous old ruins in which are found stone statues of Buddha, supposed to be at least 1,200 or 1,300 years old, clothed in garments the same as those used at the present day; and showing, from their decorations, that they were ornamented by Batik in the same general style of patterns that are still popular there. During the last few years very careful studies have been made, especially by the Dutch Government, upon this Javanese process, and they have endeavored to introduce it into Europe. It was amusing to notice that in one of the reports issued by the Dutch Government on this subject it was stated that none of the modern dyestuffs could be utilized for this purpose, and that the only colors that could be recommended as fast to light were the old vegetable dyestuffs, applied in the complicated and troublesome methods of past ages. This curiously unscientific attitude has seriously interfered with the success of the process in Western lands, and is only now being abandoned.