Battik
an ornamental production of the natives of the Dutch East Indies, who decorate their clothing with it; also made in The Hague for local use and export. A piece of linen is taken and all kinds of designs are outlined upon it with a pencil. When the design is completed, the ornamented parts of the fabric are covered with a liquid which possesses the quality of stiffening after being applied.
The parts not ornamented are dyed the color desired. After the entire fabric has been ornamented in this manner, it is boiled in hot water so as to take the hard stuff out of the battik. 'The dyed parts will then hold the dye and the battik is ready. The Hague people were the first to introduce battik into Europe. It is made on linen, silk, velvet, and leather, and is exported to all the principal cities of Europe. In recent years the production of battik has been taken up in the than ever.
United States to a much greater extent BATTLE, a combat between two armies. In ancient times and the Middle BATTLE Ages, the battle ground was often chosen by agreement, and the battle was a mere trial of strength , a duel en gros; and, as the armies of the ancients were imperfectly organized, and the combatants fought very little at a distance, after the battle had begun maneuvers were much more difficult , and troops almost entirely beyond the control of the general. Under these circumstances, the battle depended almost wholly upon the previous arvalor of the troops. In modern times, however, the finest combinations, the most ingenious maneuvers, are rendered possible by by the better organization of the armies, and it is the skill of the general rather than the courage of the soldier that now determines the event of a battle. Battles are distinguished as offensive or defensive on either side, but there is a natural and ready transition from one method to the other. As a rule , the purely defensive attitude is condemned by tacticians, except in cases where cept in cases where the only object demaintain a position of vital consequence, the weight of precedent being in favor of the dash and momentum of an attacking force, even where opposed to superior forces. Where the greatest generals have acted upon the defensive, it has almost always been with the desire to develop an opportunity to pass the offensive. Tacticians have divided a battle into three periods: those , and the decisive moment.