448 Major Burney on the Lacquered-Ware of Ava. 
capital: and the gilding of the shwé-da-gon pagoda at Rangiin now looks 
very black and shabby; whereas at Banghdék, I recollect the Portuguese 
Consul pointing out to me the excellent state of preservation of the external 
gilding of a pagoda, which was described to have been gilded no less than 
sixty years before. 
All the different purposes to which the theet-tsee is applied in this country 
can scarcely be enumerated. It is boiled and used for writing on polished 
tables of wood or ivory, particularly in the Pali character. The umbrellas 
of all classes are made with paper and two or three coats of varnish ; over 
which, whenever required, gold leaf is easily put on in the manner above 
described. Cheap buckets are made by covering a coarse bamboo basket- 
work with only two or three coats of this varnish. Almost all domestic 
utensils are made with this substance and basket-work or wood. I should 
think very light portmanteaus or patarahs might be made, by applying over 
a bamboo frame-work this varnish and the ¢ha-yo, which, filling up all the 
cavities, would render them impervious to water; rattan might be too 
heavy, and the priming might not adhere so well to its polished surface. It 
is necessary to mention, that the surface of the theet-tsee, when kept, is 
always covered over with two or three inches of water, to prevent the varnish 
from drying or becoming hard. 
Observing that Dr. Wattcu had never seen the ¢heet-tsee tree in flower, 
I requested Dr. Ricuarpson, during his late overland journey to the fron- 
tiers of Manipura, to bring me a specimen. He passed through extensive 
forests -of the tree from a place called Myagu, about five days’ journey 
from Ava, to the Manipura boundary. ‘The trees were very large, and 
had a beautiful appearance, from being covered with flowers so abundantly 
that the leaves were concealed, and the trees were one mass of white. The 
bark appeared quite dry, and no juice was oozing at the little slips of 
bamboo which he saw sticking in the trunks of the trees. The flower has 
a fragrant scent, resembling that of apples, and the Burmese eat the young 
buds in curries. Isend a specimen of the flower, which Dr. Ricuarpson 
brought to me last month (February). 
The account given under the article ‘ Japanning,’ in Rres’s Cyclopedia, 
of the varnish used in China and Japan, ‘ composed of turpentine and a 
curious sort of oil,” and of the lack, “sap or juice of a tree occasioning 
swellings in the hands and faces of the people who use it,” answers a good 
deal to the Shan oil and ¢heet-tsee here described ; yet the Burmese workmen, 
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