142 
different, namely, Urshi-no-ki (Of. Useful PL Jap. 1895, p. 87 ; 
Rein, Industries of Japan, t ,n. l.'.S-iH and MS-77). Tilley says 
that the best qualities of the thit-si come from the Shan States 
and cost Rs. 2-8 a viss. Mr. N. K. Fraser speaks of the best 
qualities coming from the Chindwin and Shan countries. The 
quality known as a->/oun;/-tin thit-si is procured in Burma itself. 
In certain stages an oil is largely used which is composed of one 
proportion of thit-si and half a portion of Shan oil— the oil of 
Sesamum known as Shan si. 
Mr. H. E. Tilly, in an article on lacquer- ware in Burma (Cf. 
Mukharji's Art Manufacture* >>f Iwiia, />;>. 2.V.1-0O), says, " The 
lacquer-ware used in British Burma is of iwo kin Is ; (1) that in 
which the article is made of basket-work lacquered over ; (2) that 
in which the article is made of wood." In Lower Burma the 
trade is largely confined to tin- latter class such as the large round 
platter with a raised « cU. , m which the fa, nilv dinner is served, 
round and square boxes and bowls. Max and I'.ertha Ferrars 
(Burma, pp. lOl-o) speak of "the exudation of the bark of 
Mrtannrrhitru us/talu, a common tree of the In forests. The gum 
blackens to jet on exposure to the air. It dries slower than the 
'Japan black' of Commerce but is much tougher. A peculiarity 
of thtssi" {thit-si of other writers) "is that" it sets hardest in a 
moist atmosphere. Every manufacturer has an underground cellar 
—a thing almost unknown in Burma— for the wares to harden in. 
Pagan, the centre of the industry, is at the same time the driest 
locality of the dry zone." 
The materials used are the oleo-resin thit-si. This is often 
employed in a liquid state as a varnish, or it is thickened by saw- 
dust, cow-dung ashes, or bone- ashes to a plastic condition and 
used as a cement, a body material, or moulding substance. It 
may be coloured with lamp-black, with -o!,| leaf, with vermilion 
(not red lead), with orpiment, with indigo, &c, and may be 
rh a brush or by the hand direct, or to an object 
revolving on the turning lathe. It has been affirmed that the 
coating with vermilion-coloured varnish must be done in the sun, 
not in the shade, otherwise the red colour will be destroyed. The 
more liquid forms may be utilized as varnish to wood-work or to 
make paper or cloth waterproof (as in the manufacture of Burmese 
umbrellas), or when thickened can be used as putty to fill up 
defects m wood-work, or to close the meshes of basket-work, 
horse-hair work, &c., in order to convert these into water-tight 
aps, betel-leaf boxes, &c. ; or it may be the cement 
£ttl T * l n e manufactu re of glass mosaics, and lastly, and by 
o? 8S^Z32? Lt is the chief material in the production 
industrv*in K iKsq aSer f ™ 8h u ed a most interesting report on this 
Xti M a ' ; mo workman 
kno tof J hlT K g ^ bamb0 ° i,,r " - »'" l " 1— retaining one 
downth^S b0 ° Kif^J** Eacb is now taken » d Vi* 
calTed &£££ ^^ft""*!? ^-ded into whl? is 
The hne.t splitting is effected by cutting from the root end of 
