562 FOURTH BULLETIN OF [1846. 



are annually brought to Canton. This comes from the islands of Java, Borneo, 

 Sumatra, Macassar, and from the Siilu group. Java alone sends about twenty, 

 seven tiiousand pounds of the best quality, estimated at si.rly thousand dollars. 



Cochineal. — Chma affords a considerable market for this dye, which is taken 

 there from Mexico and England, and isHised in dyeing silk, crapes, &,c. Attempts 

 have been made to raise it in India, Java, and Spain, but with little success. The 

 climate and situation of Japan and Cliina being similar to Mexico, it is probable 

 that the cultivation of the plant and the domestication of the insect would be suc- 

 cessful in those countries. It is occasionally imported into China from Manilla, 

 which is called ungarbled, to distinguish it from that brought from England, which 

 bears the name of garbled. Garbling is the name given to the process of repack- 

 ing it free from impurities. Garbled cochineal is valued at two hundred and 

 eighty to three hundred dollars per pecul ; and ungarbled, at from one hundred and 

 eighty to two hundred and forty dollars. 



Gold. — This metal is brought from Borneo to China, generally in the shape of 

 dust, and is there cast into bars called shoes, which are not used as coin, but merely 

 as bullion. The purity of the metal is ascertained by the touchstone, which gives 

 a different colored mark where the gold is of unequal purity. This is called a 

 touch, and the color shows the proportion of pure gold. Needles for comparison 

 are also made of different proportions of alloy, by which tlis stone is rubbed at the 

 same time with the gold. It is also tested by nitric acid, but this is not allowed in 

 Borneo. To express the fineness ot gold, it is divided into one hundred parts, called 

 " touches." Thus, if the gold is said to be ninety-six touches, it has four parts alloy. 

 They become so expert in tlie use of the touchstone, that they can detect one and 

 two percent, of alloy. Their knowledge of assaying is very slight, and their silver 

 in bullion, which contains some gold, has made it an object with foreigners on that 

 account. The range of the touch is from seventy to one hundred dollars, and to 

 each a different name is applied. Gold leaf is made by the Chinese in great quan- 

 tities, and is used lor ornaments in their temples, &c. 



Iron. — Iron in rods, bars, and scraps, has lately become an article of importa- 

 tion in the market. Bar iron from one to three inches wide, and rod of one fourth 

 inch and less, are the common sizes imported. Bar is worth from one dollar and 

 eighty cents fo two dollars per pecul. Rod from three to three dollars and fifty 

 cents, and scrap about two dollars and fifty cents per pecul. 



Lead. — Much of this metal is imported in the tbrm of pig and sheet lead. The 

 market price varies from five to six dollars per pecul. Very little lead is found in 

 the east, A considerable part of that which is imported is made into paints by 

 oxidation, and exported again as red and white lead. The red lead sells for about 

 eleven dollars per pecul, and the white at ten dollars. The linings of the tea 

 chests consume a large quantity. The mode of making the sheet lead is very 

 simple. Two smooth stones of marble are placed near the melted lead, and the 

 workman, holding the upper stone by the side, with the opposite edge resting on tbo 

 lower stone, pours the liquid on tha under one, and then urops thai which he held 

 in his hand. The ort of dropping the upper stone in such a manner as to make 

 the sheet of a uniform thicl-.ness is the only difficult part of the operation. 



Quicksilver. — Quicksilver is brought to China in considerable quantities from 

 Europe, and occasionally from America. The most part of it is converted into 

 Vermillion by oxidation, and in that state is used for painting on porcelain. Ver- 

 million also forms an article of export to India and Europe. Quicksilver is fre- 

 quently adulterated with tin or lead, and the fraud cr.n be detected by boiling it to 

 evaporation, when the other metals will remain. Tliis metal ranges between sixty 

 and onu hundred and thirty dollars per pecul, and is one of the most variable com- 

 modities. 



Copper. — This metal is found in Persia, Sumatra, Borneo, and Japan, It formed 

 an export from Persia to England formerly, but is now tanl from England to India. 

 In the island of Borneo copper has lately been discovered, and it has been known 

 a long timj in Sumatra and Timor. The utensils made of this metal in thoso 

 islands always contain some iron, and the bars or cakes into v. hich it is cast, when 

 sold for unalloyed, require much labor to make them pure and malleable. The ore 

 is so rich as to produce half its weight of pure copper. The copper found in Ja- 

 pan contain! gold in alloy, and occurs in the market* in small bars, six inches lon^. 



