tussur

As Wardle stated: "The examination necessarily occupied much time, both from the great number of the dyes collected and from experimental effort in applying them successfully to the various fibres and fabrics of wool, cotton, silk, and tussur ailk." (3)

The outcomes of Wardle's research into India's raw materials produced a total of 4,100 dyed cloth and thread samples of cotton, wool, silk, eria silk and tussur silk.

In one page labelled "Ventilago maderaspatana root bark Madras", the dyed threads are divided into two rows of skeins and grouped under four headings "Unbleached Tussur", "Bleached Tussur", "Mulberry Silk" and "Wool" (figure 6).

For example he discusses the results he obtained when dyeing tussur silk: "They are of very great interest and beauty, and will serve to show how inexhaustible is the satisfactory range of colours that may be obtained when all the best dyestuffs of India are on the market." (7) He also states: "I have been much gratified to find how well Eria silk has behaved under the various processes with the Indian dyestuffs, many of the shades being very charming." (8)

At the end of the Introduction to his report he was able to declare: "Whilst in Calcutta my manuscript of this examination of the dyes of India, with the large series of dyed examples of silk, tussur silk, eria silk, cotton and wool, arrived, having been sent by the India Office from London, and was ordered to be printed." (9)