PAPER.--How many varieties of paper do you think they manufacture in
Japan? Over sixty kinds are made from the fibres of various grasses and
plants. "Paper," says Miss Bird, in her interesting record of travel in
Japan, "is used for walls, windows, cups, pocket-handkerchiefs,
lanterns, string, wrappers, cloaks, hats, and baggage covers, and is
used domestically and professionally for all purposes for which we use
lint, bandages, and cloths. It is so tenacious as to be nearly
untearable, and even the finest kind, an exquisite and nearly diaphanous
fabric, soft like the most delicate silk crepe, in which fine gold
lacquer is usually wrapped, can only be torn with difficulty."
The same writer tells about the fine varnish or lacquer which we see on
the beautiful Japanese trays and bowls. It is a natural varnish, the
product of a tree, from which the sap is taken in the early spring. When
it comes from the tree it is of the color and thickness of cream, but it
darkens when exposed to the air. Lacquer is used for all kinds of
purposes, from the golden shrines in the temples to the rice bowl in
which the humblest cooly takes his meal.
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