9 8 
VARNISH TREE. 
at least, deprive them of all their moisture, and 
cause them to decay. 
“ The Chinese do not procure varnish from the 
tsi-chu until its trunk is nearly five inches in dia- 
meter, which it seldom attains before seven or eight 
years. Varnish extracted from a tree smaller, or of 
less age, would not have the same body and splen- 
dour. This liquor distills only in the night time 
and during the summer season ; it does not flow in 
winter ; and the varnish produced by the tree in 
spring or autumn is always mixed with a great deal 
of water. To cause the gum to flow, they make 
several rows of incisions round the trunk, the number 
of which is proportioned to the vigour of the tree. 
The first row is seven inches from the earth, and 
the rest are at the same distance one from the other, 
and continue to the top of the trunk, and even 
sometimes on the boughs which are of a sufficient 
strength and size. The Chinese use a crooked iron 
for making these incisions, which must run a little 
obliquely, and be equal in depth to the thickness 
of the bark ; they make them with one hand, and 
with the other hold a shell, the edges of which they 
insert into the opening, where it remains without 
any support. These incisions are made towards 
evening, and next morning they collect the varnish 
that has fallen into the shells; the following evening 
they are again inserted ; and the operation is con- 
tinued till the end of the summer. A thousand trees 
yield almost, in one night, twenty pounds of var- 
nish. This varnish, for the most part, is not ex- 
