THE Chinese affirm that eighteen centuries ago they
had discovered the secret and means of manufacturing
paper; before that invention, they used to inscribe
written characters on thin strips of bamboo, or sheets
of metal, using a style, or pen of iron for the purpose
of marking the characters; and this, they assert, had
been the practice of their nation from the most remote
ages. Before the art of paper-making had arrived at
perfection, the Chinese adopted the practice of writing
upon white silk, or cotton, with a bamboo pen; this
was found a more convenient method than writing
either on strips of bamboo or sheets of metal, as the
silk or linen could be folded into a small compass.

In the first century of the Christian era, during the

Han dynasty, a mandarin, who was attached to the

Emperor's court, and whose name was Sai-lun, discovered the art of paper-making. Tradition affirms that this mandarin took the bark of trees, pieces of old silk, and hempen cloth, and boiled them down until they came to the consistence of glue, or paste; he then spread the mass in thin layers upon the earth, and the sun's rays dried up the moisture, leaving a thin compact substance: thus the first paper was made. Shortly afterwards, the means were discovered by which a smooth surface is given to paper.

Kao-Song, who was the third Emperor of the Tang dynasty, had paper made from hemp, for its peculiar strength and durability, and this was used for the secret official despatches. The manufacture of paper gradually improved, until we find Father Ripa, in 1705, speaking of the paper of Corea, remarks upon the large size of the sheets, and durability of the texture; the latter arises from the material of which it is made, which is the inner part of the cocoon of the silk-worm. In ancient times, the Coreans used to pay their tribute to the Emperor of China in this paper. Chow-ouen, a Chinese author of antiquity, asserts, that in the earliest ages there was a method known of manufacturing a sort of paper from the refuse of silk and cotton, which they could neither wind off nor spin; but this secret was lost, or the method fell into disuse during the various revolutions which occurred previous to the Tsin dynasty.

It is also asserted, that the Chinese have a method • Father Ripa ought to have been an Irishman, as he often perpetrates a “bull:" writing of the Corea paper, he remarks, the sheets are as large as blankets.

of giving paper the appearance of having been silvered, without employing that metal, the honour of this invention they attribute to the Emperor Kao-ti, of the Tsi dynasty. Paper is manufactured from various materials, each province or district having its own peculiar manufacture, that of Corea we have described, in Fo-kein province, paper is made from young soft bamboo, in the province of Che-keang, it is made from paddy straw, in the province of KiangNan, it is made from the refuse silk, and this paper is very fine and delicate, being highly valued for writing complimentary inscriptions upon.

The best and finest paper is made near Nan-kin, from the pulp of the sycamore tree, and the paper which we erroneously call rice paper, is made from the fine inner bark of a tree, unknown to Europeans; the Chinese also use, for the coarser description of paper the old fibres of hemp, and the barks of various trees. In an old Chinese work, full instructions are given as to the art of paper-making; and we must confess our astonishment is great, that the Chinese have remained so long stationary in a manufacture which they have been practising for eighteen hundred centuries, as the paper made in China is far inferior to that which is manufactured in Europe.

Instructions are given in the Chinese work above alluded to, for the method to be employed in drying paper, and as the Chinese, invariably follow old customs, never attempting to improve upon them, the mode here alluded to is practised at this time.

"A hollow wall must be built, hollow as a young moon of three days birth, the sides of this must be B 2