PAPE R. 3 m 
The method of fabricating paper with the bark of dif¬ 
ferent trees is nearly the fame with that which is followed 
in the bamboo. To give an idea, therefore, of the man¬ 
ner of manufafluring the interior barks of the mulberry, 
the elm, and the cotton-tree, it will be fufficient to con- 
line our obfervations to the bamboo. 
The bamboo (Arundo bambos) is a kind of cane or 
hollow reed, divided by knots ; but larger, more elallic, 
and durable than any other reed. The whole f'ubftanceof 
the bamboo, compofed of filaments, and a great abun¬ 
dance of fibrous materials, is employed in this operation. 
Thefhoots of one or two years, nearly the thicknefs of a 
man’s leg, are preferred. They (trip the leaves from the 
Item, cut them into pieces of four or five feet long, make 
them into parcels, and put them into water to macerate. 
As foon as they are foftened, which generally happens in 
five days, they warn them in pure water; put them into a 
dry ditch ; cover them with lime for fome days, which 
they water for the purpofe of flacking: they wafh them 
carefully a fecor.d time; cut every one of the pieces into 
filaments, which they expofe to the rays of the fun to dry 
and to bleach them. After this they are boiled in large 
kettles ; and then reduced to fluff in mortars of wood, by 
means of a hammer w ith a long handle, which the work¬ 
man moves with his foot. 
The fluff being thus prepared, they take fotne finoots of 
a plant named ho teng, w hich, fteeped in water four or five 
days, is reduced to an unftuous or glutinous fubftance ; 
and, when they proceed to make the paper, this is mixed 
with the fluff in certain exaft quantifies, for on this mix¬ 
ture depends the goodnefs of the paper. 
When the extradi from the ko-teng is mixed with fluff 
of the bamboo, the whole mixture is beat together in 
mortars till it becomes a thick and vif'cous liquor. This 
is poured into large tubs or refervoirs, fo exadliy framed 
as that no part of the liquor can efcape. The w'orkmen 
after this plunge their forms into the liquor; take out 
what is fufficient for a fheet of paper; which immediately, 
from the glutinous fubftance, becomes firm and (hining ; 
and is detached from the form by turning down the fheet 
on the heap of paper already made, without the interpofi- 
tion of pieces of woollen cloth, as in Europe. 
But the Chinefe often make their fheets of paperabove 
twelve feet in length ; and the celebrated Dr. Franklin 
lias, in the American Phiiofophical Tranfadtions, given 
the following account of the method ufed by them for 
making thefe extremely large fheets of paper; fuppofe of 
four and half ells long, and half an ell wide. They have 
two large vats, each five ells long, and two ells wide, 
made or brick and lined with plafler, that holds water; in 
thefe the fluff is mixed ready to work. Between thefe 
vats is built a kiln, or (love, with two inclining lides, each 
fide fomething larger than the fheet of pa.per ; they are co¬ 
vered with fine llucco, that takes a polifn, and are fo con¬ 
trived as to be well heated by a (mail fire circulating in 
the walls. The mould is made with thin but deep fides, 
that it may be both light and ftiff. It is fufpended at 
each end with cords, that pal’s over pulleys faflened to the 
ceiling, their ends connedled with a counterpoile nearly 
equal to the weight of the mould. Two workmen, one 
at each end of the mould, lift it out of the w'ater by the 
help of the counterpoife, turn it up, and apply it, with 
the fluff for the fiieet, to the finooth furface of the ftove, 
againfl which they prefs it, to force out a great part of the 
water through the wires. The heat of the wall foon eva¬ 
porates the reft, and a boy takes off the dried fheet by rol¬ 
ling it up. The fide next the ftove receives the even po- 
lifh of the finds, and is thereby better fitted to receive the 
impreffion of fine colours. If a degree of fixing is re¬ 
quired, a decodlion of rice is mixed with the fluff in the 
vat. Thus, the great fheet is obtained finooth and fized, 
and a number of the European operations, of uniting the 
edges of feveral fmall fheets together, are laved. If the 
Hove has two polifhed fides, and there are two vats, the 
lame operation is, at the fame time, performed by two 
4 
other men at the other vat, and one fire ferves both. And 
thus the paper is dried aim oft as fall as it is made. 
To harden the fheets, and make them bear ink, they 
dip them into a folution of alum. This operation is 
called faning, from the Chinefe word fan, which fignifies 
alum. The manner is this : Six ounces of ifinglafs, cut 
very final], are put in divers porringers of water, which 
they afterwards boil up, ltirring it all the time to prevent 
lumps : when the whole is reduced to a liquid fubftance, 
they throw into it three quarters of a pound of calcined 
alum, which they melt and incorporate with it. This 
mixture is next poured into a wide bafon, acrofs which is 
laid a fmall round flick ; then they fhut the edge of each 
fiieet in another cleft from end to end, and in this man¬ 
ner dip the fiieet, gently drawing it out as foon as it is 
wetted, by Aiding it over the round flick. When the 
whole fheet has been pafl’ed nimbly through this liquor, 
which makes it whiter, and more compact, the long flick 
that holds the fiieet by the edge is fluck into a hole in the 
wall, and the fiieet is left to dry. 
Silvering of paper, as it is called, is another fecret 
among the Chinefe, praftifed at a very final! charge, and 
without ufing any filver. In order to this, they take two 
fcruples of glue, made of neats-leather, one fcruple of 
alum, and half a pint of clean water: thefe they funnier 
over a flow fire, till the water is confumed, that is, tiil no. 
more fleam arifes ; then oil a finooth table they fpread 
fome fheets of paper, and on this, with a pencil, they 
apply two or three layers of the glue; then they take a 
powder made of talc boiled, and mixed with one third 
the quantity of alum ; the two are ground together, lif¬ 
ted, and the powder boiled again in water, then dried in 
the fun, and laftly pounded again. This powder they 
lift through a fine iieve, fpreading it uniformly on the 
fheets prepared as above ; after which they hang them in 
the fhade to dry ; and, this effecled, they lay them again 
on the table, and rub them gently with clean cotton to 
take off the fuperfluous talc, which ferves a fecond time 
for the fame purpofe. With this powder, diluted in 
water, mixed with glue and alum, they draw any figures 
at fancy on the paper. See Du Halde’s Defcrip. Chin, 
tom. i. 
The paper made from the bamboo is fufficiently white, 
feft, clofely united, without the leaft inequality on the 
furface to interrupt the motion of the pencil, or to occa- 
fion the rifing of the materials which compofe it. How¬ 
ever, every kind of paper made from the bamboo or the 
bark of trees, is readier to crack than that made in Eu¬ 
rope ; befides, it is more fufceptible of moifture, and 
fooner deflroyed by duft and worms. To obviate this 
laft inconvenience, they are obliged frequently to beat 
their books in China, and to expofe them to the fun. It 
may be obferved, however, that the Chinefe paper, em¬ 
ployed for various purpofes in Europe, has been preferved 
for a long time without receiving damage either from 
moifture or infefls. 
In very ancient times, the Chinefe wrote with a bodkin 
of iron on tablets of bamboo ; afterwards on fatin with 
a pencil; and about 160 years before Chrifl they difeo- 
vered the art of making paper. 
V. Of the JAPANESE PAPER. 
According to Kempfer, the bark of the Morus papy- 
rifera, or paper-mulberry-tree, is that which is chiefly 
employed for making paper in Japan. Every year, after 
the fall of the leaves, which happens in the tenth month, 
correfponding to our December, the young fhoots of this 
tree, which are very fucculent, are cut off into flicks about 
three feet long, or fomething lefs, and put together in 
bundles, to be afterwards boiled with water and afhes. If 
they fhould grow dry before they can be boiled, they mull, 
be firft foaked in common water for about twenty-four 
hours, and then boiled. Thefe bundles, or faggots, are tied 
clofe together, and put upright into a large kettle, which 
muft be very well covered; and then they are boiled tiijL 
the 
