ON JAPANESE PAPER. 279 



afterwards left in the sun to dry. It is next macerated for three days in 

 river water and bleached in the sun. These operations having been 

 several times repeated, the bark is at last boiled in a lye of ashes for 

 the space of three hours, then manipulated for some time to separate 

 any epidermis that may have remained ; and lastly, when dry, the mass 

 is pounded fine and made into a pulp with water, to which a glutinous 

 liquid extracted from a shrub called Nebooicko — probably the Acacia 

 Nemu — is added in the proportion of about two pints per cwt. of pulp. 

 The latter is then made into sheets much in the usual way. Sir Ruther- 

 ford Alcoek states that the barks of different shrubs are used, and his 

 collection in the International Exhibition of 1862 contained some 60 or 

 70 kinds of paper, with the various applications for pocket-handker- 

 chiefs, bank-notes, printing and room-paper, waterproof clothing, imi- 

 tation leather, &c. 



In Koempfer's " Ameenitates exoticee," there is an account of the 

 mode of preparing Japanese paper, which very much resembles the 

 Chinese. The plants used for the purpose are there called Kaadsi. The 

 botanical description of Kcempfer is Papyrus fructi mori celsce, five morus 

 sativa, folis urticos mortuce, cortice papyri/era. According to this descrip- 

 tion, the plant cannot be other than the paper mulberry tree, which, as 

 already remarked, is very like the ku-chu of the Chinese. 



Every year, after the fall of the leaves, the young shoots, already 

 rather thick, are cut off in lengths of three to four feet, and made up 

 into bundles in order to be boiled in soda ash. They are tied together 

 and placed upright in a very large and closely covered vessel. The 

 boiling is carried on until the bark loosens and the wood is left bare. 

 It is then allowed to cool, and the wood split, in order to remove the 

 whole of the bark, which is then put into water from three to four 

 hours. "When the bark is sufficiently tender, the black skin is scraped 

 off, and at the same time the annual bark is separated from the bark of 

 those branches which are not yet so old. The youngest bark gives the 

 finest and best paper. That made from the older bark is blackish, but 

 not unpleasant. Bark more than a year old must be thrown aside, as it 

 yields a very coarse paper. Parts which are knotty, thick and other- 

 wise faulty, are also picked out, and very ordinary paper made there- 

 from. 



When the bark is duly arranged according to its different qualities, 

 it is boiled in ley, and during the boiling is stirred with a thick rod, 

 occasionally adding fresh ley to prevent its boiling over, and to replace 

 the loss by evaporation. The bark is allowed to boil until it can be 

 rubbed to pieces between the fingers, and forms a paste. To make the 

 ley, two pieces of timber are set crosswise on a tub, and covered with 

 straw, upon which are placed wood ashes, over which boiling water is 

 poured. 



The bark, after boiling, is taken out of the vessel and washed. This 

 washing is a delicate operation, as it must not be carried too far. If the 



