76 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



solution. After two months they are well retted. The 

 fibrous mass is then washed to remove the lime, steamed for 

 fifteen days, when it is removed, thoroughly washed, and again 

 placed in concrete tanks. The mass is next reduced to a fine 

 pulp with wooden rakes, and is then ready for conversion into 

 paper. A quantity of the pulp is put into troughs with cold 

 water and mucilage prepared from the roots of Hibiscus 

 Abelmoschus. An oblong bamboo frame, the size of the 

 desired sheet of paper, having a fine mesh, is held at the two 

 ends by a workman and drawn down endways and diagonally 

 into the liquid contents, which are kept constantly stirred in 

 the trough. It is then gently raised to the surface, and the 

 film which has collected on the top is deposited as a sheet of 

 moist paper when the frame is turned over. After the surplus 

 water has drained away from the mass of moist sheets of 

 paper the whole is submitted to pressure. It is then dried 

 either in kilns or in the sun, according to quality, the sun- 

 dried being the inferior. Since much water is necessary in 

 the process of paper-making the mills are always erected 

 alongside streams. 



The more common paper in daily use is made from rice- 

 straw by a similar but less intricate and quicker process. The 

 stems of a reed (Imperata arundinacea, var, Koenigii), known 

 as "Mao-ts'ao," and common in many parts of Western 

 China, are also used locally in the manufacture of paper, 

 being frequently mixed with rice-straw. 



Chinese " rice-paper," so called by foreigners, is prepared 

 from the pith of Tetrapanax papyrifera, a shrub closely allied 

 to the common Ivy of Europe, and colloquially known as 

 " T'ung-ts'ao." This plant has handsome palmate leaves, 

 and stems filled with a pure white pith. This pith is cut, 

 using a rolling, circular motion, by means of a sharp, heavy 

 knife, into thin sheets. Formerly much of this cutting was 

 done in Chungking, the raw material being imported from the 

 province of Kweichou. Rice-paper is used by Chinese artists 

 for painting upon, and also in the manufacture of artificial 

 flowers. 



Sericulture and silk-weaving are among the most important 

 industries of Szechuan, Nearly every part of the province 



