A naturalist in Western China : with vasculum, camera, and gun, being some account of eleven year's travel, exploration, and observation in the more remote parts of the flowery kingdom; . at materials were first employed by the Chinese in paper-making are not known with certainty, but were probablybamboo or Paper-mulberry, Kou shu {Broussonetia papyri-fera). A good case in favour of the latter could be made out,since the inner bark of this tree requires less preparation thanbamboo culms. True paper money first originated in theprovince of Szechuan during the reign of the first emperorof the Su
A naturalist in Western China : with vasculum, camera, and gun, being some account of eleven year's travel, exploration, and observation in the more remote parts of the flowery kingdom; . at materials were first employed by the Chinese in paper-making are not known with certainty, but were probablybamboo or Paper-mulberry, Kou shu {Broussonetia papyri-fera). A good case in favour of the latter could be made out,since the inner bark of this tree requires less preparation thanbamboo culms. True paper money first originated in theprovince of Szechuan during the reign of the first emperorof the Sung Dynasty ( 960). A certain Chang-yung intro-duced it to take the place of the iron money then in use, whichwas inconveniently heavy and troublesome. These notes werecalled Chih-tsi or Evidences, and were apparently madefrom the inner bark of the Paper-mulberry. jMarco Polo,speaking of Kublai Khans mint at Peking, says, He makesthem take of the bark of a certain tree, in fact, of the Mulberrytree, the leaves of which are the food of the silkworms—thesetrees being so numerous that whole districts are full of they take is a certain fine white bast or skin which lies. A SOAP-TREE (GLEL)IT>1A >l.\E>^lSy FT. iALL THE MORE IMPORTANT PLANT PRODUCTS 75 between the wood of the tree and the thick outer bark, andthis they make into something resembhng sheets of paper, butblack. The famous Venetians error in calling this the silk-worm Mulberry is pardonable enough, since the trees are veryclosely allied, and somewhat similar in appearance. Papermoney is still made from the paper prepared from the bark ofthe Kou shu, and the same paper, Pi-chih owing to itstoughness, is used for wrapping up silver, for tags on silk goods,and as a lining between the fur or cotton and the outer fabricin fur-lined or wadded garments. The B. papyrifera occursall over China up to 4000 feet altitude, and if left aloneforms a much-branched tree 35 to 45 feet tall with a smoothdark grey ba
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbotany, bookyear1913
