12 FIRST STEPS IN GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. 



glue and varnish. About 27,000 pounds weight 

 of this plant are annually brought into Canton, 

 and sold at sixpence or eighteen pence the pound. 



With this they varnish the paper for their lanterns, 

 and give the beautiful gloss to their silks ; and it 

 seems likewise to be the principal ingredient in a 

 celebrated transparent composition which they 

 spread out over slips of bamboo, and use instead 

 of glass in windows, the bamboo slips being 

 arranged in the manner of a frame." 



