[Dyeing.] Three colours, red, dark blue and light blue, are used by the Lhotas. Red thread is generally bought either from a shop or from an Ao village, for red dyeing is considered a risky occupation likely to bring on dysentery, and therefore only suitable for old women, who are of no value to the community. The industry, however, is carried on in a few Lhota villages, such as Changsü and Okotso. To make red dye the root of Rubia sikkimensis (karung) is pounded up, and another leaf (’ntawo) is pounded and added. The mixture is then boiled with water, and the thread put in while the water is boiling. The pot is then lifted off the fire and allowed to stand for three days, when the thread is taken out and dried. Dark blue dye is made from the leaves of Strobilanthes flaccidi-folius (tchemo), pounded up and boiled with water. The thread is steeped in the mixture for half an hour and is then dried. This gives a colour like navy blue. To make light blue the leaves which have been already boiled and used for making dark blue dye are drained and dried and kept for a year. They are then broken up fine and mixed with cold water and the white ash of burnt bark, and put to stand till next day, when the thread is put in and left there for a day, or for two days if the dye is weak. It is then taken out and dried. Dyeing is exclusively performed by women, who when they are so occupied must refrain from sexual intercourse and must not eat beef, goat’s flesh, dog’s flesh, dried fish, or that horrible vegetable known in Naga-Assamese as “stinking dal” (nyingtyingtsing), in fact any food with a strong smell. If any man were to dye a piece of thread he would never again have any luck in fishing or hunting. No one but the dyer must look on while thread is being dyed or the colour will be patchy and bad.