ittle from that
used by European workmen. When drawn to a sufficient fineness they
flatten it by beating it on their anvil; and when flattened they give it
a twist like that in the whalebone handle of a punch-ladle, by rubbing it
on a block of wood with a flat stick. After twisting they again beat it
on the anvil, and by these means it becomes flat wire with indented
edges. With a pair of nippers they fold down the end of the wire, and
thus form a leaf or element of a flower in their work, which is cut off.
The end is again folded and cut off till they have got a sufficient
number of leaves, which are all laid on singly. Patterns of the flowers
or foliage, in which there is not very much variety, are prepared on
paper, of the size of the gold plate on which the filigree is to be laid.
According to this they begin to dispose on the plate the larger
compartments of the foliage, for which they use plain flat wire of a
larger size, and fill them up with the leaves before mentioned. To fix
their work they employ a glutinous substance made of the small red pea
with a black spot before mentioned, ground to a pulp on a rough stone.
This pulp they place on a young coconut about the size of a walnut, the
top and bottom being cut off. I at first imagined that caprice alone
might have directed them to the use of the coconut for this purpose; but
I have since reflected on the probability of the juice of the young fruit
being necessary to keep the pulp moist, which would otherwise speedily
become dry and unfit for the work. After the leaves have been all placed
in order and stuck on, bit by bit, a solder is prepared of gold filings
and borax, moistened with water, which they strew or daub over the plate
with a feather, and then putting it in the fire for a short time the
whole becomes united. This kind of work on a gold plate they call karrang
papan: when the work is open, they call it karrang trus. In executing the
latter the foliage is laid out on a card, or soft kind of wood covered
with paper, and stuck on, as before described, with the paste of the red
seed; and the work, when finished, being strewed over with their solder,
is put into the fire, when, the card or soft wood burning away, the gold
remains connected. The greatest skill and attention is required in this
operation as the work is often made to run by remaining too long or in
too hot a fire. If the piece be large they solder it at several times.
When the work is finished