588 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1921. 



vegetable filaments side by side and sewing at determined intervals 

 with horsehair, silk, or flax. The bamboo strips, as well as the sew- 

 ing, left impressions in every sheet of paper that was made on the 

 mold. The marks that were left by the bamboo sticks were called 

 " laid," and those impressed by the sewing stitches which held the 

 bamboo together were known as "chain lines." This manner of 

 mold construction was the simplest and best method that could have 

 been used in forming a firm surface that would retain the fibers and 

 yet let the water drain away. In early paper making the lines im- 

 pressed in the sheets did not appear because of their pleasing appear- 

 ance, but because they embodied at the time the best all-round way 

 of forming a paper-making mold. 



The wet pulp was taken from the bamboo molds, directly after 

 forming, onto a piece of cloth stretched over a board. The first 

 method of drying was to place the board, with the paper, in the sun, 

 but later a pile of paper, each sheet interleaved with a cloth, was 

 subjected to pressure. This was accomplished by the use of heavy 

 stones — the stones taking the place of the screw press that was used 

 for pressing the water from the paper in later centuries of early 

 paper making. 



These bamboo molds of the laid pattern were employed by the 

 Persians, and perhaps by the Chinese, a number of centuries before 

 the introduction of paper making into Europe. 



It is interesting to note that a sheet of paper made on these bamboo 

 molds has never been discovered that had a watermark in the form 

 of an object or design. The ancients probably did not think of this 

 means of marking their paper; or it may have occurred to them, 

 but as the vegetable fiber was so unwilling to twist into forms, the 

 idea was not carried to any termination. Of course, the laid and 

 chain lines of the mold always formed a watermark in the paper 

 unintentionally, but the ancients did not use any emblem or symbol 

 on the bamboo covering. 



Many persons imagine that the introduction of watermarking 

 dates from the commencement of paper making, but this is obviously 

 a mistake. 



The bamboo mold shown as an illustration in this article meas- 

 ures 12 by 17 inches, and the writer has made fairly good sheets 

 of paper on it. The frame of this mold is held rigid by leather 

 thongs at each corner. The covering, or laid lines, is composed of 

 split bamboo filaments bound to the ribs, or supports, of the mold 

 by flaxen threads. In plate 2, a, is shown a portion of a bamboo 

 mold, also the cross section of the mold covering, and a specimen of 

 the paper made on this type of mold. 



It is not possible to determine how early these bamboo molds were 

 used, and it is not known when wire was first introduced as a cover- 



