DAPHNE CANNABINA. Wall. Paper shrub.
D. bholua, Wall. I D. papyracea, TVall.
D. odora, Thumb.
Niggi, Jeku, . . HIND. I ballade° ka pbul, HIND.
A snaall evergreen perennial shrub, somewhat like a laurel, which bears poisonous berries. It grows in Nepal, Sikkim, in Kainann at 5000 to 9000 feet, the N. W. Himalaya generally at from Z/500 to 8000 feet. It is with this shrub that the Nepal paper is made ; and in Kanmon, etc., large quantities are manufactured front the purple flowered variety. The bark is boiled in a metallic pot with oak ashes, which aro highly alkaline. The softened bark is then pounded with a mallet ill a stone mortar, till reduced to a pulp like dough. This pulp is churned with water into a very thin paste, until it lose all trace of fibre, and will diffuse and settle smoothly. In this state it is poured into a coarse sieve placed over a frame, with a cloth bottom floating on water. The sieve stops the coarse pieces, allows the fine emulsion to pass through, and then by agitation this is smoothly deposited over the cloth. Removing the frame, the water filters away, and the pulp dries rapidly by placing the frame before a fire.
The paper is subsequently polished by friction with a shell or piece of hard wood. Sheets have been made many yards square. It may be purchased Kliatinandu at 17 annas sicca for 3 seers. Bricks of the pulp are sold from 8 to 10 annas for 3 seers. The greater part of the paper is made by eis - Hanalayau 13butiah, east of the Kali river. The manufacture seems to have been intro duced from China about the 14th century. This unsightly paper is much overrated. lint it is tough when kept dry; can be used like cloth for wrapping up dry substances ; aud it can be used after having been saturated with water, provided it be carefully dried within a reasonable time after it has been wetted. The dried bark may be sub stituted for D. mezereum. The bazar mezereon is almost always inert from age. In Chumba, the flowers appear to be hung up as offerings in temples. — J. L. Stewart ; O'Sh. p. 531 ; Beng. Phan p. 279 ; Clegharn, P. R.