Lac is also extensively used as a dye. By pouring warm water on stick lac, a crimson solution is obtained, which is the source of much of the value attached to lac. This colouring matter is extracted in various ways, and made into small square cakes for sale; these go by the names of lac dye, lac lake, or cake lake. When broken, the cakes are dark coloured, shining, smooth and compact, and when scraped or powdered they present a bright red colour approaching carmine. The native mode of dyeing with this substance is described as follows. They take one gallon of the red liquid, and add to it three ounces of alum. Three or four ounces of tamarinds are boiled in a gallon of water and strained. Equal parts of the red liquid and of the tamarind water are then mixed over a brisk fire; and the pieces of silk or cotton cloth to be dyed are dipped and wrung alternately, until they have received a proper proportion of the dye. To deepen the colour they increase the proportion of the red liquid, and lengthen the time during which the cloth remains immersed in it. The colour is rendered permanent by the use of bark in the rinsing water. There is yet another and a singular employment of lac among the Indians. The polishing grindstones used by eastern lapidaries are composed of a mixture of three parts river sand with one part lac: these are mixed in a vessel over the fire, and then formed into the shape of a grindstone; the part of the lac being merely that of a cement to hold the sand together. In this country lac is valuable partly as a dye, partly as a varnish. As a dye it is less beautiful, but more durable than cochineal. It forms the best kinds of sealing wax, and is also used in the hat manufacture.