Joseph Banks's Descriptions of Places, South Sea Islands, page 137

Page 137

Joseph Banks's Descriptions of Places

South Sea Islands

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South Sea Islands (continued)

Yellows: it is made of the bark of the Root of a shrub calld by them Nono (Morinda umbellata) this they scrape into water and after it has soakd there a sufficient time strain the water and dip the cloth into it. The wood of the root is no doubt furnishd in some degree with the same property as the Bark but not having any vessels in which they can boil it it is useless to the inhabitants. The genus of Morinda seems worthy of being examind as to its propertys in dying; Browne in his hist of Jamaica mentions 3 species whose roots he says are usd to dye a brown colour, and Rumphius says of his Bancudus angustifolia, which is very nearly allied to our Nono, that it is usd by the inhabitants of the East Indian Islands as a fixing drug for the colour of red with which he says it particularly agrees.

They also dye Yellow with the fruits of a tree calld by them Tamanu (Calophyllum Inophyllum) but their method I never had the fortune to see; it seems however to be cheifly esteemed by them for the smell which it gives to the cloth, a smell that is more agreable to an Indian than a Europaean nose.

Besides their cloth the women make several kinds of matting which serves them to

Voyaging Accounts

© Derived from State Library of NSW Transcription of Banks's Journal page (vol.1) 382, February 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-banks_remarks-137.html