43 



Coccoon of the silk worm ; and others the bark of the choo-tree 

 (syn. of kuh) the Broussonetia. 



SHA CHE, OR CRAPE PAPER. 



This paper is brought from among the mountains of Nanking, 

 in the province of Tkwang Se. In spring, during the first and 

 second moons, they take the bark of a tree called kuh muh (Brous- 

 sonetia papyrifera) and having pounded it, throw it into a stone 

 reservoir of pure water, where they leave it to steep till it is fit for 

 use. They then take it out with the sediment, and pouring it into 

 cow-skin glue boiled with water, they stir all together and taking up 

 this mixture with a mould of bamboo screen of the size required, 

 they put it out in the sun to dry, and it becomes crape paper. 



The Chinese paper, called touch-paper (or paper fuel), is made at 

 the village called Peih Keang, a few miles from Canton, of the 

 variety of bamboo called lang. 



At the beginning of summer, during the 4th and 5th moons, 

 the young sprouts of the bamboo are cut off just as the leaves are 

 beginning to grow, and having been beaten flat, are thrown into 

 a lime pit to steep for about a month. They are then taken out, 

 washed clean, and dried in the sun, after which they are pounded 

 small, passed through a sieve, and laid up. The kernel of the 

 longan fruit {Bimocarpus Longari) is also used, being pounded 

 small, dried in the sun, and passed like flour through a sieve. 

 Wh en making the paper, this powder is put into clean water, 

 stirred about, then taken up with a mould made of bamboo screen, 

 and the water left to run off. It is afterwards applied to a heated 

 wall to dry, and the paper is then complete. For coarser or finer 

 paper a coarser or finer mould is used. 



The person, who made the drawings, says, the bamboo is cut into 

 lengths of about three feet, tied up in bundles of seventeen each, 

 and laid into running water, where it remains six months. It is then 

 put (in the same bundles) into pits made in the ground, mixed 

 with quicklime made from the shells of the Venus Sinensis, pressed 

 down with weights and left for six months longer. The bundles 

 will have been thus soaked for twelve months; they are then 

 taken out, cut into short lengths, put into one of the usual 

 Chinese pounding mills, and beaten down into a pulp, being 

 stirred occasionally, so as to present a new surface ; about four 

 hours labour will break it down. The pits contain 2000 bundles 

 of seventeen pieces each, weighing about 24 catty or 32 pounds. 



RANG YUCCA PAPEB. 

 During the fourth moon, at the close of spring and commencc- 



M 



