222 The National Geographic Magazine 



An oiled tissue paper, which is as 

 tough as writing paper, can be had at 

 the stationers for wrapping up delicate 

 articles. 



In the tea factories, the piles of paper 

 sacks filled with tea are made of shibu 

 garni. It is said that these tanned sacks 

 keep the tea in better condition than 

 any other sort, and that they last with 

 careful use for many years. Grain and 

 meal sacks are almost always made of 

 this same paper in Japan, for it is not 

 easily penetrated by weevils and other 

 insects. 



But perhaps the most remarkable of 

 all the papers which find a common use 

 in the Japanese household are the leather 

 papers of which the tobacco pouches and 

 pipe cases are made. They are almost 

 as tough as French kid, so translucent 

 that one can nearly see through them, 

 and as pliable and soft as calfskin. 

 These tobacco pouches quite change 

 one's notions of the characteristics of 

 paper, for the material of which they 

 are made is as thick as cardboard, but 

 as flexible as kid. 



The use of paper napkins and hand- 

 kerchiefs, umbrellas, and lanterns is as 

 much a part of home life in Japan as 

 the use of cheap tin articles is in Amer- 

 ica. But the reason for this remarkable 

 use of paper articles does not lie wholly 

 in the absence of cheap skins, though 

 it is true that few domesticated leather- 

 producing animals exist in Japan. The 

 quality of the papers themselves makes 

 them suitable, as ours are not, to these 

 various purposes. 



These Japanese bast papers are made 

 from the inner bark of shrubs or small 

 trees, while the papers of Europe and 

 America are made either from wood 

 pulp, the macerated stems of wild grasses , 

 or the cotton and linen rags of the ash 

 barrels. It is not a pleasant thought 

 that the brilliant white note paper which 

 your hand rests upon may have in it the 

 fibers from the filthy garment of some 

 Egyptian fellah after it has passed 



through all the stages of decay until it 

 is saved by a ragpicker from the gutter 

 of an Egyptian town ; and yet it is a 

 fact that hundreds of tons of Egyptian 

 rags are exported every year into 

 America to supply our paper mills. At 

 Mannheim on the Rhine the American 

 importers have their ragpicking houses, 

 where the rags are collected from all 

 over Europe, the disease-infected Eevant 

 not excepted, and where women and 

 children, too poor to earn a better living, 

 work day after day, with wet sponges 

 tied over their mouths, sorting these 

 filthy scraps for shipment to New York. 

 Our best papers are made of these rags 

 and our common ones of wood pulp, 

 which is obtained by grinding and mac- 

 erating huge blocks from some of our 

 soft-wooded forest trees. The bast 

 papers, therefore, are a creation of the 

 Orient and are more nearly related to 

 the South Sea Island tapa than to any 

 of our products. 



To the fact that they are made from 

 bark they owe their peculiar character. 

 They are as a rule softer, silkier, 

 tougher, and lighter than our papers. 

 If wet, they lose their strength, like 

 tissue paper, but on drying regain it. 

 They are usually absorbent, and for 

 this reason were considered in the olden 

 days as very valuable in surgery. 



THE WONDERFUL BAMBOO 



The word bamboo suggests to most 

 Americans a faithful fishing rod or a 

 dainty fan. To the Japanese and Chi- 

 nese, who are the most practical agri- 

 culturists in the world, and to the 

 natives of tropical India and the Malay 

 archipelago, it is as indispensable as the 

 white pine to the American farmer. 

 They are not only dependent upon it 

 for much of their building material, but 

 make their ropes, mats, kitchen uten- 

 sils, and innumerable other articles out 

 of it, and at the same time consider it 

 among the most nutritious of their vege- 

 tables. Varieties of bamboo are found 



