AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 



11 



places and I never saw it doing well in localities over 5,000 feet 

 above the sea. The canes are cut in the early summer 

 and are crushed between heavy wooden rollers worked by buffaloes. 

 The juice is boiled down almost to dryness and the brown semi- 

 liquid mass poured into small moulds in which it solidifies. Some 

 noteworthy districts for sugar are Shih-tien, Mo-hei, Pin-ch'uan 

 Chou, and in general, places enclosed between high hills, where 

 the climate is hot and not too dry. 



Paper is made from a bamboo and also from a species of 

 mulberry. The valley of the Shwe-Ii above Teng-yiieh is cele- 

 brated for its paper. The mulberry bark is steeped in water for 

 a day or two and is then boiled with lime and afterwards carefully 

 washed. It is then pounded between two heavy stones and disinte- 

 grated. The finer pieces are picked out and thrown into large 

 vats of water. As more fibre is added the mixture is kept con- 

 stantly stirred, until the finest pulp is suspended in the water. A 

 frame made of bamboo is then dipped into the water, in such a 

 way as to ensure a thin even layer of the paper pulp across it. The 

 film of paper adheres together when dried and can be turned off 

 the frame without tearing. 



Fibre-producing plants are cultivated in some places, but not 

 to anything like the extent to which they might be. After treat- 

 ment they are used in the manufacture of string, rope and a very 

 coarse kind of cloth. About 20 tons of hemp twine are exported 

 from Yunnan to Burma through Teng-yiieh annually, taking the 

 average export over a number of years. I do not know the botanical 

 species of the hemp which yields these fibres, but the plant grown 

 to a height of about 6 feet, and after being cut down it is allowed 

 to rot in water, after which the fibres are easily extracted by hand. 

 Mention may be made here of a curious kind of water-proof fibrous 

 cloth which is made from the outer bark of a species of palm and 

 which the Yunnanese call " tsung-pao." The production of this 

 material must be enormous as it is used as a water-proof cover on 

 all the caravan loads in wet weather, and also as a coat by the 

 labourer in the fields during the rainy season. 



Large numbers of water-proof hats are made in various places, 

 such as Teng-yiieh. Ta-li Fu and ( 1 hiu-ya-ping. from the fine fibres 

 of a bamboo and also from a species of coarse grass. There is a 

 large local trade in these articles and numbers are exported to the 

 adjoining provinces and to Burma and Tongking annually. 20,000 



B 2 



