MATERIALS USED FOR PAPER. 148 



plant called kotejig, having; been previously reduced 

 to a glutinous substance, are mixed with the pulp in 

 certain exact quantities, for on this mixture depends 

 the goodness of the paper. The whole is then beaten 

 together in mortars until it becomes a viscid liquor ; 

 this is poured into large receiving vessels. Forms of 

 certain dimensions are then plunged into the semi- 

 fluid, and each brings out sufficient Tor a sheet of paper. 

 The glutinous substance, thus thinly spread, imme- 

 dately becomes firm and glossy, and is detached 

 from the form by merely turning down the sheet 

 on the heap of paper already made, and without the 

 interposition of a woollen cloth between each sheet, 

 which is necessarily practised in making other paper. 

 The forms or moulds which bring up this bamboo 

 paper are also made of bamboo. Thin slips are 

 selected and drawn successively through several holes 

 in a steel plate, such as is used by our wire- drawers, 

 until they are reduced to a fine thread. Of this 

 thread the form is composed. In cold seasons, or in 

 the more northern provinces, it is sometimes found 

 necessary to dry the paper. This is done by an 

 ingenious contrivance. A hollow wall, with the two 

 fronts perfectly smooth, has a stove at one of the 

 extremities ; pipes communicating with this stove are 

 carried in a circular manner through the whole inner 

 space ; the sheets of paper are laid on the surface of 

 the wall, to which they adhere until dry, and are 

 then readily removed with a soft brush. It is requi- 

 site to dip them in a solution of alum and isinglass 

 to render them fit for the brush or the pencil. 



"The consumption of paper in China,'* says 

 father Du Halde, " is so prodigious that it is not 

 surprising they make it of all sorts of materials ; for 

 besides the immense quantity used by the learned 

 and students, and to stock tradesmen's shops, one 

 cannot conceive how much is consumed in private 



