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Show 2 ing under the stamper. This washing and pounding was repeated numerou times until twenty-two days altogether ha been occupied in the beatin process. The finely-beaten pulp was at last made into refined blocks, calle chaklas, and after a slight treading in water the fibrous material was read for the dipping-vat, This tedious treatment of flax for making paper was no a common practice even in early Indian papermaking, but, owing to th fine qudllty of the raw material and the constant \uashmg and beating, th ‘paper produced was of a superior kind. Only in the Gujrat jail was paper this qualny attempted, and in order to pmducc one ream (gaddi) and fiv quires (dastas) of paper it required two months' labour of ninety-cight prisoners. Such paper as that manufactured many years ago by prisoners in th Gujrat jail could not be duplicated anywhere in India today, but example of this paper remain to attest the craftsmanship of the old Indian artisans (5) Nepal paper plant (Daphne cannabina or Daplme papyracea). In Indi this plant is termed Maka-deoa, a name of Skiva, one of the gods of the supreme Hindu triad. The daphne grows in high altitudes and is faund abundantly in the Himalaya mountains. The bark of the daphne is the part o the tree used in papermaking in both Nepal and in Bhotan. Thc daphne o India is a genus of thymelacaceous shrubs related to the remarkable lace-bar tree (Lagetta lintearia) of the West Indies. In preparing the bark (Ghojpatiar of the daphne for papermaking the trees are cut while fairly young and th outer green bark is removed, as it is only the white inner bark that can b used. The sections of bark are cut into convenient slnps of about cxghlce inches in length. The entire process is s that employed b Japanese papermakers in working with the bark of the paper mulbcn' (Broussonctia pagyrifera). The daphne bark is boiled with lye of wood-ashe in a large carthenware cauldron, a wood fire being kindled beneath th receptacle. This treatment requires about a half hour's time. The slight boiling with the alkali renders the bark quite tender and pliable, and withou further preparation the material is subjected to the customary beating t Digital Image © 2005 Marriott Library Uni ity of Utah, Allrights ressrved |