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free from veins and bark, the texture compact, free from cracks and not worm-eaten. There are other kinds of wood resembling ebony in external appearance, which are often substituted for it, and the Chinese successfully practise staining swán chí, a kind of hard red wood, to resemble ebony. Camagon wood, as well as ebony, is derived from a species of Diospyrus, but is inferior. Garroo, or gahru wood is the agila or eagle-wood of commerce, the Aquilaria Agallochum, much prized for its perfume. The tree furnishes the best perfume when diseased, and the aloes-wood which is so much sought for, is the heart wood, while the agila or calambak is the timber. The Chinese reduce it to powder to mix with cedar dust and clay, in the manufacture of joss-sticks; and carve good pieces into beads on account of their fragrance. The tree grows throughout Malaysia especially in Cochinchina, and the Laos country, Silhet and Assam ; and the fragrant wood is known all over Asia. This substance is the aloes or lign aloes of the Bible, and has no relationship to the drug known by that name. The tree is one of the largest in its native forests, and the wood is not prized in its ordinary state, being pale in color, light and inodorous. But as decay commences, it becomes gorged with a dark, resinous, aromatic juice, and is then eagerly sought after, and prized according to its weight and fragrance. In Silhet, the natives fell any trees they find, chop off the bark, and cut into the trunk until they observe dark colored veins, indicating the proximity of the odoriferous wood near the heart. In this manner the search is continued until all the resinous portions are cut out; the sound wood is so much less valuable that it is neglected. The trunk is sometimes buried in moist ground to hasten its decay and facilitate the extraction of the diseased part. There is, necessarily, a great difference in the quality of the drug, according as it is more or less charged with resin. The wood is of a deep brown color, slightly bitter in taste, and marked with many coarse veins, in which the resin lies; some specimens yield nearly 50 per cent. of soluble matter. The odor somewhat resembles sandal-wood, but our Biblical translators seem to have rendered the Hebrew ahaloth by aloes, from a notion that it smelled like that drug.

Laka wood is a native of Sumatra (the Tanarius major); the tree supplies a red colored wood used in dyeing and in pharmacy; it is worth about $3 per picul in these markets. Redwood is brought from Singapore with kranjee, for building; the last is a hard wood, suitable for rudder posts, and is employed in junks; the former is a softer wood, susceptible of polish, liable to split, and suitable for furniture.

WOOLEN MANUFACTURES, viz., broadcloth and Spanish stripes MJE tá ni or to-lo ni; long-ells, ph ki; kerseymere,

小呢 siáu nt; blankets, 洋白氈 yung peh chen or 床氈 chewing

chen; English camlets yü shá; Dutch camlets yü twán;

imitation camlets and bombazetsy chau; bunting

yü pú; inferior woolens and Spanish stripes

hiá tang jung;

Hannel 脊粑 fin pa; lastings 羽 yù ling; orleans 小羽

jung mien pú.

siáu yü ling; woolen and cotton mixtures The trade in woolens was formerly one of the important branches, and the annual consumption amounted to nearly a million sterling; the value

in 1834 is stated at £835,217, and at the beginning of this century the value of the export of tea to, and import of woolens from England, was not very far apart. Now the Chinese officials, who used to buy them, have either become too poor to purchase fine broadcloths, or else the fashions have changed. German cloths are repacked in England, so that all the importation comes in British ships. Long-ells are brought in bales of assorted colors or all scarlet,-this color being most sought after because it is deemed fortunate. Spanish stripes, broadcloths, and habit-cloths, are worn by the richer classes.

The trade in woolens, like that of cotton piece goods, is at present extending, as the opening of new ports brings them more within the reach of the people, but statistics are yet imperfect. At Canton the sales of long-ells are about 12,000 pcs., and of other cloths nearly 20,000 pcs. ; of camlets about 10,000 pcs.; miscellaneous, 23,000 pcs.; the consumption at this port will probably decrease in future owing to the openings on the Yangtsz. At Shanghai, the import in 1861, was Spanish stripes 37,097 pcs.; long-ells, 68,507 pcs.; camlets, 45,411 pcs. ; habit cloths, &c., 5194 pcs.; other sorts, as blankets, bombazetts, or flannel, 48,384 pcs.; total value over 2 millions of dollars. The largest portions of these goods went up the Yangtsz'. The woolen trade at the three northern ports is proportionately less than that in cotton goods, for the custom of wearing padded cloths and furs diminishes the demand. At Fuhchau the consumption is trifling; some 5000 pieces of all sorts. The total value of the woolen trade in 1844 was estimated at $1,375,000; in the season 1853 it was about $740,000; and even less than that in 1855. It began to revive in 1859, when it was estimated to exceed two millions of taels, and in 1861, to reach nearly $4,000,000. There is no steady demand for many of the miscellaneous fabrics, as flannels, blankets, kerseymere, bunting, bombazetts, mixtures, plaids, lastings, though many are constantly brought. Blankets and flannel are liked by the Cantonese, but their use does not extend. Russian woolens are common throughout the northern provinces, and are cheaper than English. It is highly probable that a gradual increase will take place in the total import of these manufactures, as the people north of the Yangtsz' become familiar with them.

WOOLEN YARN,jung sien, is difficult of sale, and has almost ceased to be brought; 241 piculs were imported in 1836-37, at $100 per picul. The Chinese have learned to knit to a very little extent, but they have not learned to weave woolen cloth.

Section 5.

DESCRIPTION OF ARTICLES OF EXPORT.

ALUM, peh fán, is exported to India and the Archipelago, where it is regarded as superior to the native product. About 75,000 piculs have been annually exported. It is found in argillaceous schist or alum shale, in the provinces of Ngánhwui, Húnán, and Chehkiáng, which finds its way chiefly to Ningpo and Shanghai; the markets of Swatau and Amoy also furnish large quantities drawn from neighboring districts. One mineral spring is mentioned which contains alum in solution. The mineral is extensively worked in the Sungyang hills in the district of Pingyang in Wanchau fú near the borders of Fuhkien, and not far from Pibkwan harbor. The alum-stone is thrown into a fire of brushwood as it is quarried, and burns and cracks with a slight lambent flame; the fragments are macerated in vats, and then boiled in vessels having iron bottoms and wooden sides for a short time. The lixivium is poured into reservoirs to crystallize into a solid mass, and when wanted for shipment, blocks of about fifty catties are cut out, and taken by porters across the hills in bamboo frames to the place of shipment at Chih-kí in Lannai harbor. If not wanted immediately, they are stored away at the mines for drying. The supply in the region seems to be inexhaustible, and the daily product was estimated by a visitor in 1853 at eighteen tons of alum, which would amount to not much less than 6000 tons per annum. This alum is equal to the best Roman; a roseate tint in some specimens indicates the presence of minute quantities of iron, and some parts of the district produce iron and silver. No potash nor any other material is employed as a flux or digester in separating the alum from its gangue. When the article reaches the depot, it is not unfrequently found soaked through, the porters having dipped their loads into the rivulets to make up the fixed weight they are obliged to deliver. Alum is occasionally used by Chinese masons as a cement, melted and poured into the interstices of stone-work; in damp situations it gradually loses its adhesiveness, however, and the masonry crumbles. It is often impure from intentional adulteration with lime and gypsum, or from the rudeness of the manipulations; the taste is not so sharp as the European salt. It is employed by the Chinese in purifying water, and sizing and whitening paper, but chiefly in bleaching or dyeing silks, cotton, and grasscloth.

ANISEED STARS, tá hwui, and Apáh kioh, i.e. eight horns; the broken is known as páh kioh chá. This is the fruit of a small evergreen tree (Illicium anis tum), which grows in Fuhkien and the neighboring provinces, in Japan, and the Philippines. They are prized for their aromatic taste like anise. The name of star is applied to them on account of the manner in which they grow, the pods being in small clusters joined together at one end, and diverging in 6 or 7 rays. The husks have a more aromatic flavor than the seeds, but they are not

as sweet; those which are bruised or moldy should be rejected. The Chinese season dishes, and make a fragrant tea from them, deemed serviceable in fevers. They are chiefly exported to England and the Continent of Europe, at the average value of $15 per picul.

OIL OF ANISEED,pák kioh yú, is made by distilling the pods and seeds in small retorts in shops of the retailers; a picul of the raw material produces about 7 catties of oil. It is put up in tin cases, inclosed in wood, and goes chiefly to Europe and the United States, at an average annual export of 250 piculs, at $150 per picul. It is used in perfumery, medicine and confectionery.

APRICOT SEEDS, or Almonds hang jin. There are at least three sorts of fruit, whose drupes are used for the emulgent preparation sold as almond tea or hang jin chá. One is an almond; apricot seeds are likewise brought from the northern provinces, while the kernels of peaches are also employed, all on account of the prussic acid in them. The warm tea is hawked about the streets, and taken as a pleasant drink after dinner, as coffee is in the West.

Beside the fruits enumerated in the tariff (lichees, lungans, lotus-nuts, melon-seeds, chestnuts, dates, and ground-nuts) there are others which form articles of trade. The nut of the gingko (Salisburia adiantifolia), called peh kwo, i.e. white fruit, from their white shell, and resembling damsons in shape, are much liked by natives. The excessively sour berries of the yang mei or Chinese arbutus (Myrica sapida), are relished by all classes, and in their native hills furnish a considerable article of food, freshly cooked or made up into sweetmeats. The seeds of a tree of the yew family (Torreya nucifera) called fei tsz', are collected and eaten like hazel-nuts. Persimmons, dried and prepared like biffins, are sent abroad to Siam and the Straits under the name of dried figs; they are used as ship's stores. The acorn-like seeds of the Aleurites triloba, shih lih or stone chestnuts, are collected for the oil contained in their kernels, and sent away from Canton.

ARSENIC, 信石sin shih, 砒霜 pí siáng, and also 人言 jin yen,

or "man's words," by an anagram of the first character. It occurs in Kwangsin fú in the north-eastern part of Kiángsí, where it is obtained by sublimation from the crude ore; and is then again refined from the sulphur and other impurities by dissolving and precipitating it in water. Both the crude and refined are brought to market. The farmers employ it in rice cultivation to destroy insects by mixing it with grain when sown; and doctors exhibit it in treating intermittent fevers. It likewise forms an ingredient in the pastil made to smoke musquitoes out of a room. The exportation to India has decreased to about 50 piculs annually, at $12 for the refined. The red sulphuret of arsenic, called I hung sin, is mixed with arsenious acid, and furnishes part of the arsenic of commerce.

ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS, chi hwa, are made of great diversity and beauty, copied both from nature and drawings. The manufacture at Amoy has grown to be of considerable importance, pains having been

C.G. 16

taken to furnish the workmen with good models. This branch of labor is an important one among the people, and the different processes of shaving the pith, dyeing and pressing it, sorting the colors, cutting and gluing the leaves and stalks, and mounting the flowers into bouquets, festoons, and other forms, employ many thousands of both sexes. The work of drying and cutting the pith is mostly done where the plant grows, and the assorted sheets are brought to Canton in large bales. BAMBOO WARE; screens are called chuh lien, and the ware chuh kt. Bamboo grows over nearly the whole of China, and the industry and skill of the people have multiplied and perpetuated a number of varieties, (one author contents himself with describing sixty of them,) among which are the pipe, the pencil, the large yellow, the common green, &c.; the black-skinned comes from Sz'chuen and Húnán. Its uses are so various, that it is not easy to enumerate them all. The shoots are boiled, pickled, and comfited, and furnish sedentary priests with nutritious lenten fare, while the tabashir is sold by them as a rare medicine. The roots are carved into fantastic images, into diviningblocks to guess the will of the gods, or cut into lantern handles and canes. The tapering culms are used for all purposes that poles can be applied to in carrying, supporting, propelling, and measuring; for the props of houses, and frameworks of awnings; for the ribs of sails, and shafts of rakes; for fences and every sort of frames, coops, and cages; the wattles of abattis, and the handles and ribs of umbrellas or fans. The leaves are sewed into rain-cloaks and thatches; plaited into immense umbrellas to screen the huckster and his wares on the stall, or into coverings for theatres and sheds. The wood, cut into splints of various sizes, is woven into baskets of every form and fancy, sewed into windowcurtains and door-screens, plaited into awnings, and twisted into cables. The shavings and curled threads furnish materials for stuffing pillows, while other parts supply the bed for sleeping, the chopsticks for eating, the pipe for smoking, and the broom for sweeping;-the matress to lie upou, the chair to sit upon, the table to eat on, the food to eat, and the fuel to cook it with, are also derived from it :--the ferule to govern with, and the book to study from; the tapering plectrum for the lyre, and the reed-pipe of the sang or organ; the shaft of the soldier's spear, and the dreaded instrument of the judge; the skewer to pin the hair, and the hat to screen the head; the paper to write on, the pencil to write with, and the cup to put the pencil in; the rule to measure lengths, the cup to guage quantities, and the bucket to draw water; the bird-cage, the crabnet, the fish-pole, and the sumpitan, &c, &c., are one and all furnished by this plant, whose beauty when growing is commensurate to its usefulness when cut down. The poles are floated to Canton on rafts, and sold as they lie in the water, for $8 to $16 per 100 according to size. A score or two of bamboo poles for joists and rafters, fifty fathoms of rattan ropes, and a supply of palm leaves and bamboo mats for a roof, supply material for a common hut in the south of China; five dollars will build a decent one.

Bamboo-ware, in the shapes of chairs, screens, couches, &c., is largely exported; bamboo-shoots form an item in the home traffic; cut into

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