82 THE RICE-PAPER PLANT. 
demand exists for headgear. The large sheets are prepared chiefly 
for the Canton and Tien-tsin markets, and are consumed by the water- 
colour painters; their cost is about 40 cash each. The small-sized 
(about three inches square) are made up in bundles of 100 each, and 
sold at Fuh-chow at about 45 and at Amoy at 35 cash per bundle. 
This extraordinary cheapness is evidence of the abundance of the plant 
in its place of growth, and more especially of the cheapness of labour. 
That a hundred sheets of this material, certainly one of the most de- 
licate and beautiful substances with which we are acquainted, should 
be procurable for the trifling sum of 14d. or 13d., is truly astonish- 
ing; and when once the attention of foreigners is directed to it, it will 
doubtless be in considerable request among workers in artificial flowers 
in Europe and America, being admirably adapted to their wants. 
“The comparatively high cost of the large sheets proves that the 
pith does not in general attain a great diameter, and the dimensions 
as shown in the lithographs (copied from Chinese drawings, and 
given at our Vol. IL., Tabs. VIIL and IX.) must be looked upon as quite 
imaginary*. I have selected, from a large quantity sent me, some of 
the longest and thickest specimens, for the inspection of membersf. 
“The small remains of the cylinders of pith after the cutting of the 
sheets, are sold to the apothecaries’ shops, and the decoction is said to 
be used as a diuretic; the price is mentioned as 10 cash per oz. The 
shavings are sold at 8 cash per oz. | 
“The trade has of late acquired considerable mitis in many 
parts of the Empire. The Canton and Fuh-kéen provinces are the 
chief consumers ; the town of Fuh-chow alone is supposed to take off 
an annual supply to the value of not less than thirty thousand dollars, - 
for consumption in the city and its immediate neighbourhood. The 
Rice-paper trade used formerly to be solely in the hands of Amoy and 
Chin-chew merchants settled at Amoy, from whence other departments 
were supplied; but since the latter end of the reign of Taou-kwang, 
vessels from Formosa have brought the article direct to Fuh-chow, 
where there are now two Hongs for its sale, but owned by Chin-chew 
or Amoy men. 
* Mr. Bowring says in another place, that these drawings serve to show the 
extreme unfaithfulness of the Chinese artist, who would seem to have drawn largely 
e ae imagination, and who probably never saw the plant he professed to portray. 
+ The largest of these specimens measures twenty-six inches in length, and the 
thickest is rather more than six inches in girth, 
