Ch. IV.] EIOE-PAPEE PLANT. BAMBOO. C3 



it twice that height. Probably the specimens which came 

 imder my notice were young, or those which had not had 

 the benefit of cultivation, for they were scattered sporadically 

 upon the hill-sides. The mode of preparing the paper from 

 this plant is by skilfully paring the previously-removed pith 

 with a broad and sharp knife, which shaves it cleanly off in 

 a spiral manner from the circumference to the centre, at the 

 same time preserving an equable thickness throughout. 

 The substance is then flattened out, cut into smooth sheets, 

 and is ready for the reception of pigment, which can be 

 laid on with remarkable facility and brilliancy. 



But perhaps the most prominent feature of the vegetation 

 of Tam-suy and its neighbourhood is the bamboo (Bambusa 

 arundinacea), everywhere a striking object from its graceful 

 feathery foliage. It lines the river's banks, forms hedges 

 and fences, and is remarkably beautiful. At the same time 

 it is the most useful of trees, from which almost every 

 article and utensil is made ; the small canes, and the large 

 heavy stems alike, with little preparation, being converted 

 into innumerable useful objects; while the split wood is 

 utilized in a hundred ingenious ways, and there is scarcely 

 any manufactured article into which the bamboo in some 

 form does not enter. 



The long rambhng town of Tam-suy consists, for the 

 most part, of a narrow street of shops of a poor description, 

 paved with great cobble-stones, or else not at all, and in 

 which pigs of all sizes, and barking dogs, dispute the passage, 

 which, iu some parts, scarcely admits of two passengers 

 passing one another. The Tice-Consul, Mr. Gregory, re- 

 sides here, as well as three or four other Europeans, either 

 engaged in mercantile affairs, or employed in the Chinese 

 customs. The consulate, however, is but a poor building 



