540 Siatktics of the Circar of Dotvlutahad, [No. 36, 



lee" for a whole night. In the morning the beaten shreds are car- 

 ried to the tank, and all dust and dirt removed by washing, which is 

 thus managed : a long cloth has its two ends made fast round the loin? 

 of two men, who enter the tank, and commence stirring the shreds 

 well about in the cloth between them, by which means it obtains a 

 very effectual cleansing, after which it is returned to the '* daiklee," 

 and adding lime, in the proportion of one maund to three maunds 

 of shreds, is again well pounded by the " daiklee" for eight days, 

 and then left quiet for a week, when after repeating this alternate 

 operation of pounding and resting, it is submitted to a thorough wash- 

 ing to detach every particle of lime from the mass, which when ef- 

 fected, soda and soap in equal proportions are added ; four maunds 

 of each to every three maunds of pulp, when another pounding is 

 given, and the mass left in heaps for a day. On the following one, it 

 is well washed, and laid out to dry and bleach for four days. When 

 the moisture has by this time all escaped, the dried substance is rub- 

 bed by the hand upon a chunamed floor, sifting it afterwards to allow 

 the dust to pass away, when three maunds of soap to the same pro- 

 portions of pulp are used, and again beaten for eleven days, again 

 washed, and again dried and bleached, when it is further reduced to 

 a pultaceous consistence with water for use, by beating and tread- 

 ing in a circular hole, made of chunam for this purpose, from ihence 

 the pulp is removed into a cistern for use. This cistern is four 

 feet by five wide with sides sloping towards the base, and is three feet 

 deep. 



The moulds consist of a frame-work adapted to the size of the 

 sheets required, with narrow rims, having bars placed lengthways, 

 their edges presenting, and an inch a part ; upon the frame is laid 

 a fine chick made of a peculiar grass, and kept firmly fixed by secur- 

 ing the edges with two flat sticks, that fit in at the top and bottom of 

 the frame ; the moulds being prepared, the workman who sits squatted 

 close to the edge of the cistern, stirs up the pulpy matter with a 

 etic^ and then dips the frame vertically in the cistern, gradually in- 

 clining the lower part upwards, so that by the time it reaches the sur- 

 face, it lies flat upon the water; he then carefully and quickly notices 

 those portions in which the pulpy matter lies uneven, and remedies 

 by again dipping the frame into the cistern, making all smooth and 

 even by a series of almost imperceptible jerks and shakings of his 

 wrists; after a short, time the chick is raised, and the newly formed 



