176 Some Account of the Lacquered [May, 



used in filling up any little holes, and joining on the stands or different 

 pieces together, and the separate parts of the frame-work of the high 

 conical boxes are fixed together with this cement, which becomes as 

 hard as wood, and which would really assist the famous project of 

 converting saw-dust into deal boards. The ornaments like little rails, 

 fixed around the sides of some of the boxes, are made with this tha-yo, 

 pressed with little tin moulds or stamps into the pattern required, and 

 then fastened on. A fourth kind of paste is made with the ashes of 

 cow-dung, ngowa-gyee-bya, sifted finely, and mixed with theet-tsee^ 

 which has been put over fire until beginning to boil. The two are then 

 well mixed and beat together, whence this paste is called te tha-yo, or 

 " beaten thayo." This looks like putty, and is used principally by 

 gilders in fixing flowers or other ornaments upon wood-work, to which 

 it adheres very tenaciously ; and before it hardens, it is so pliable and 

 elastic, that it may be drawn out into the finest lines and twisted into 

 any shape. But much of the cheapest and coarsest description of Ja- 

 panned ware manufactured at Nyoung-oo, is said to have the basket- 

 work covered with a paste of cow's dung and mud only, over which one 

 or two coats of theet-tsee are applied. This paste is always liable to* 

 crack and chip off the basket work, and the Burmese consider this kind 

 of manufacture, in which very little theet-tsee is used, as an imposi- 

 tion. 



All the above descriptions of paste form good cements for joining 

 wood-work. For this purpose, the best kind is a mixture of the bone 

 ashes tha-yo with a little teak saw -dust ; and I have found it answer as 

 an excellent substitute for glue, not being so liable to be affected by 

 damp weather. It is only longer drying, as much as five or six days. 

 It answers very well also in filling up the cavities left in fine cabinet- 

 work, when the thin black edging has broken or fallen off. When 

 dry it must only be rubbed smooth and even with a stone, in the man- 

 ner hereafter described. 



To return to the cups, which the Burmese workmen prepared under 

 my eye. On the second day, the rim of the cup was cut round smooth, 

 and the fine description of basket-work at the top was scraped and 

 thinned with a knife, so as to bring it more on a level with the other 

 part. The hole at the bottom, where it is fixed to the form when 

 being wove, was filled up with a little of the saw-dust tha-yo. The 

 whole inside and outside, was then covered over with a paste made of 

 theet-tsee, bone ashes, and saw-dust, three parts of bone ashes to one 

 of saw-dust. The workmen called this the tha-yo-gyan or " coarse 

 tha-yo," declaring that for this first coat of priming, this mixture of the 



