1 16 
BAMBOO. 
the bamboo, may be ranked the manufactory of 
paper. To accomplish this purpose we are in- 
formed, by Duhalde, that they use the open kind 
of bamboo, of which they reject the first bark, and 
only employ the second with the woody substance. 
They choose the shoots of the first year, and divide 
them into several straight bundles of six or seven 
feet in length. These bundles are sunk in a pond 
of muddy water, where they remain till their com- 
pact and tenacious parts are separated. In about 
fifteen days they are taken out of the pond, and 
after being washed in pure water they are spread in 
a large trench, and covered with lime. When the 
bamboos have been long enough in this state they 
are again washed, and, being separated into fila- 
ments, are exposed to the heat of the sun in order 
to be bleached : as soon as this is effected, the mass 
is put into large coppers, where it is boiled, and the 
operation completed by beating it with a heavy 
pestle till it is reduced into a fluid paste. 
With this pulpy mass they mix gum water, 
prepared with the juice of a plant called hoa-teng or 
ho-teng. This melange, which resembles thick and 
cloudy water, they pour into large and deep re- 
servoirs formed of four walls, breast high, the bot- 
tom and sides of which are defended by a cement, 
to prevent the liquor from oozing through. The 
workmen, who are placed on the sides of the re- 
servoir, then dip in their moulds and raise the sur- 
face of the liquor, which almost immediately be- 
comes paper. The frame upon which they raise 
