Travels in India (Tavernier) 141.3

141.3

That which is formed on trees is of a red colour, and is what they dye their calicoes and other stuffs with, and when they have extracted this red colour they use the lac to lacquer cabinets and other objects of that kind, and to make Spanish wax. A large quantity of it is exported to China and Japan, to be used in the manufacture of cabinets; it is the best lac in the whole of Asia for these purposes. As for the gold, no one is permitted to remove it out of the Kingdom, and it is not coined into money, but is kept in large and small ingots, which the people make use of in local trade, not taking it elsewhere; but as for silver, the King coins it into money of the size and weight of rupees, and of an octagonal shape, and they may be taken outside the Kingdom. Although the country abounds, as I have said, with all things necessary to life, among all articles of food the flesh of the dog is especially esteemed, it is the favourite dish at feasts, and every month, in each town in the Kingdom, the people hold markets where they only sell dogs, which are brought thither from all directions. There are also quantities of vines and good grapes, but no wine, the grapes being merely dried to distil spirits from. Finally, as regards salt, there is none in the Kingdom but what is manufactured, which is done in two ways. The first is to collect vegetable matter which is found in stagnant water, such as ducks and frogs eat.