70 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



central China to other parts of the Empire and to Japan. 

 In 1910 the exports of varnish from Hankow totalled 15,424 

 piculs, valued at Tls. 1,043,434. This commercial product 

 is frequently adulterated with wood oil. Three tests for adul- 

 teration are commonly employed — (i) Smell ; (2) the varnish 

 is held up and allowed to drop, the strand of varnish will remain 

 unbroken if it is pure, but will break if adulterated ; (3) placed 

 on a sheet of soft Chinese paper, the varnish " runs," if it is 

 adulterated, owing to the paper absorbing the oil adulterant. 

 Everywhere in China this varnish is known to resident foreigners 

 as " Ningpo varnish." The genesis of the name is interesting, 

 since the substance itself is not produced in the neighbourhood 

 of Ningpo, but is imported from Hankow and elsewhere. In 

 the early days, when foreigners first settled at Shanghai, most 

 of the carpenters employed to build houses for them were 

 Ningpo men. For all indoor work — floors, pillars, and furni- 

 ture — they employed this varnish, and foreigners promptly 

 dubbed it " Ningpo varnish." 



A peculiarity of " Ningpo varnish," or Chinese lacquer, to 

 use its correct name, is that it hardens only in a moist atmo- 

 sphere and remains in a tacky condition if exposed to sunlight 

 and heat, the essentials in hardening copal varnish. In China 

 it is applied only during cloudy weather when the atmosphere 

 is surcharged with moisture or when a drizzle of rain is falling. 

 For indoor work its drying is facilitated by hanging about the 

 rooms cloths saturated with water. The kind used on ships 

 contains " P'ei-yu " in almost equal parts, and this mixture 

 dries rapidly even in moderately dry, hot weather. How im- 

 portant the knowledge of this peculiarity is may be gathered 

 from the following fact. Many years ago an experimental 

 consignment of " Ningpo varnish " was received in London. 

 It was applied in the same way as ordinary copal varnish, in 

 full sunlight and heat, with the result that it refused to harden, 

 and remained " tacky," and the failure resulted in its being 

 condemned as worthless ! 



The only change which takes place in the composition of 

 the lacquer in drying at ordinary temperatures is the slow 

 absorption of oxygen, finally amounting to 575 per cent, by 

 weight of the original substance. Complete oxidation is found 



