BROUSSONETIA PAPYRIFERA. Vent.
Moms papyrifera, Linn. I Papyrus Japonica, Lanz. Mahlaing, . . . Bum. Paper Mulberry, . ENG. Killia, . . . CELEBES. Gags, . . . JAY.
Che, CHIN.
This is a shrub or small tree, with soft, brittle, woolly branches, and large hairy rough leaves, either heart-shaped and undivided, or cut into deep irregular lobes. It is a native of the isles of the Southern Ocean, as well as of China and of Japan, but has been introduced into the Indian gardens. In Tahiti or Otaheite, and other islands, they make tapa cloth of its bark; and it is said that the finest and whitest cloth and mantles worn by the principal people at Otaheite and in the Sandwich Islands were made of the bark, and this when dyed red takes a good colour. For the purposes of making cloth it is not allowed to become higher than about 12 feet, and about one inch in diameter. The bark, taken off in as long strips as possible, is steeped in water, scraped with a thank shell, and then macerated. In this state it is placed on a log of wood, and beaten with a mallet, three sides of which have longi tudinal grooves, and the fourth a plain surface. Two strips of lapa are always beaten into one, with the view of strengthening the fibres, an operation increasing the width of the cloth at the expense of its length. Most of the cloth worn is pure white, being bleached in the sun ; but printed tape is also, though not so frequently, seen, whilst that used for curtains is always coloured. The chief dye employed is the juice
of Aleurites triloba.
In Japan, they are said to cultivate this plant much as osiers are cultivated in Europe. There, for paper, the young shoots, being cut down in December, after the leaves have fallen, are then cut into good long pieces, and are boiled until the separation of the bark displays the naked wood, from which it is then easily separable with the aid of a longitudinal incision. In order to make paper, dried bark is soaked for a few hours in water, after which the outer cuticle and the internal green layer are scraped off. The stronger and firmer pieces are separated from the youngest shoots, which are of inferior quality. The selected bark is boiled in a ley of wood-ashes till the fibres can be separated by a touch of the finger. The pulp so produced is then agitated in water till it resembles tufts of tow. If not sufficiently washed, the paper will be coarse, but strong ; if too much miled, it will be weaker, but white. It is then maten on a table, with batons of hard wood, into pulp. Mucilage obtained from boiled rice, or rom a plant called oreni, is added to the pulp. ['hese three are stirred with a clean reed till re !need into a homogeneous liquor, and when of a lue consistence are ready for conversion into sheets of paper.—Dr. Seeman, Viti ; Voigt.