WRITING MATERIALS.
Paper.--Its Numerous Applications.--Captain Sherard Osborn, in writing of the Japanese, says:--"It was wonderful to see the thousand useful as well as ornamental purposes to which paper was applicable in the hands of these industrious and tasteful people. Our papier-mache manufacturers, as well as the Continental ones, should go to Yeddo to learn what can be done with paper. With the aid of lacker varnish and skilful painting, paper made excellent trunks, tobacco bags, cigar cases, saddles, telescope cases, the frames of microscopes; and we even saw and used excellent water-proof coats made of simple paper, which did keep out the rain, and were as supple as the best macintosh . . . . . The inner walls of many a Japanese apartment are formed of paper, being nothing more than painted screens; their windows are covered with a fine translucent description of the same material; it enters largely into the manufacture of nearly everything in a Japanese household, and we saw what seemed balls of twine, which were nothing but long shreds of tough paper rolled up. . . . In short, without paper, all Japan would come to a dead lock."
Sizing Paper.--The coarsest foreign paper can be sized, so as to prevent its blotting when written on, by simply dipping it in, or brushing it well over with, milk and water, and letting it dry. A tenth part of milk is amply sufficient. Messrs. Huc and Gabet inform us that this is the regular process of sizing, as used by paper-makers in Thibet.
Substitutes for Paper are chips of wood, inner bark of trees, calico and other tissues, lead plates, and slaty stone. I knew an eminent engineer who habitually jotted his pencil memoranda on the well-starched wristband of his left shirt-sleeve, pushing back the cuff of his coat in order to expose it. The natives in some parts of Bengal, when in the jungle, write on any large smooth leaf with the broken-off moist end of a leaf-stalk or twig of any milky sap-producing tree. They then throw dust upon it, which makes the writing legible. If the leaf be so written upon, the writing is imperceptible until the dust is sprinkled. This plan might, therefore, be of use for concealed writing. A person could write on the leaf without detaching it from the tree. (See Sympathetic Ink.")
Prepared Paper, for use with pencils of metallic lead (see "Pencils"), is made by rubbing a paste of weak glue and bones burnt to whiteness and pounded, on the surface of the paper.
Waxed Paper is an excellent substitute for tin-foil, for excluding the air and damp from parcels. It is made by spreading a sheet of writing paper on a hot plate or stone and smearing it with wax. A hot flat-iron is convenient for making it.
Carbonised Paper, for tracing or for manifold writing, is made by rubbing a mixture of soap, lampblack, and a little water on the paper, and, when dry, wiping off as much as possible with a cloth.
Tracing Designs.--Transparent tracing-paper can hardly be made by a traveller, unless he contents himself with the use of waxed paper; but he may prick out the leading points of his map or other design, and laying the map on a sheet of clean paper, charcoal or other powder that will leave a stain, it can be rubbed through.
Book-binding.--Travellers' unbound books become so terribly dilapidated, that I think it well to give a detailed description of a method of book-binding which a relative of mine has adopted for many years with remarkable success, and to a great extent. The books are not tidy-looking, but they open flat and never fall to pieces. Take a cup of paste; a piece of calico or other cloth, large enough to cover the back and sides of the book; a strip of strong linen--if you can get it, if not, of calico--to cover the back; and abundance of stout cotton or thread. 1st. Paste the strip of linen down the back, and leave the book in the sun or near a fire--but not too near it--to dry, which it will do in half a day. 2ndly. Open the book and look for the place where the stiching is to be seen down the middle of the pages, or, in other words, for the middle of the sheets; if it be an 8vo. book it will be at every 16th page, if a 12mo. at every 24th page, and so on: it is a mere matter of semi-mechanical reckoning to know where each succeeding stitching is to be found; in this volume the stitching is at pages 216, etc., the interval being 16 pages. Next take the cotton and wind it in between the pages where the stitching is, and over the back round and round, beginning with the first sheet, and going on sheet after sheet until you have reached the last one. 3rdly. Lay the book on the table back upwards, daub it thoroughly with paste, put on the calico cover as neatly as you can, and set it to dry as before; when dry it is complete.
Other Materials for Writing.--Quills and other Pens.--Any feather that is large enough, can be at once made into a good writing-quill. It has only to be dipped in hot sand, which causes the membrane inside the quill to shrivel up, and the outside membrane to split and peel off: a few instants are sufficient to do this. The proper temperature of the sand is about 340 degrees. The operation may be repeated with advantage two or three times. Reeds are in universal use throughout the East for writing with ink. Flat fish-bones make decent pens.
Pencil.--Lead pencils were literally made of the metal lead in former days; and there are some parts of the world, as in Arabia, where they are still to be met with. A piece of lead may be cast into a serviceable shape in the method described under "Lead," and will make a legible mark upon ordinary paper. Lead is the best material for writing in note-books of "Prepared Paper) (which see). A better sort of pencil for general use is made by sawing charcoal into narrow strips, and laying them in melted wax to drench for a couple of days, they are then ready for use.
Paint brushes.--Wash the bit of tail or skin, whence the hair is to be taken, in ox-gall, till it is quite free from grease. Then snip off the hairs close to the skin, put them points downwards resting in a box, and pick out the long hairs. After a sufficient quantity have been obtained of about the same length, a piece of string is knotted tightly round them, and pulled firm with the aid of two sticks. Then a quill, that has been soaked in water for a day in order to soften it, is taken, and the pinch of hair is put into the large end of the quill, points forward, and pushed right through to the other end with a bit of stick, and so the brush is made. The chinese paint-brush is a feather--a woodcock's feather is often used. Feather, like hairs, must be washed in ox-gall.
Ink.--Excellent writing-ink may be made in the bush. The readiest way of making it is to blacken sticks in the fire and to rub them well in a spoonful of milk till the milk becomes quite black. Gunpowder or lamp-soot will do as well as the burnt stick; and water, with the addition of a very little gum, glue, or fish-glue (isinglass) is better than the milk, as it will not so soon turn sour. Indian ink is simply lamp-soot and some kind of glue: it is one of the best of inks. If pure water be used, instead of gum or glue and water, the writing will rub out very easily when dry, the use of the milk, gum, or glue being to fix it: anything else that is glutinous will serve as well as these. Strong coffee, and many other vegetable products, such as the bark of trees boiled in water, make a mark which is very legible and will not rub. Blood is an indifferent substitute for ink. To make 12 gallons of good common writing-ink, use 12 lbs. of nut-galls, 5 lbs. of green sulphate of iron, 5 lbs. of gum, and 12 gallons of water. (Ure.)
Lampblack.--Hold a piece of metal, or even a stone, over a flaring wick in a cup of oil, and plenty of soot will collect.
Sympathetic Ink.--Nothing is better or handier than milk. The writing is invisible until the paper is almost toasted in the fire, when it turns a rich brown. The juice of lemons and many other fruits may also be used. (See "Substitutes for Paper.")
Gall of Animals, or Ox-gall to purify.--To make ink or paint take upon greasy paper, a very little ox-gall should be mixed with it. It is very important to know this simple remedy, and I therefore extract the following information from Ure's 'Dictionary.' I have often practised it. "Take it from the newly-killed animal, let it settle for 12 or 15 hours in a basin, pour the liquid off the sediment into an earthenware pot, and set the pot into a pan of water kept boiling until the gall-liquid becomes somewhat thick. Then spread it on a dish and place it before the fire till nearly dry. In this state it may be kept, without any looking after, for years. When wanted, a piece the size of a pea should be dissolved in water. Ox-gall removes all grease-spots from clothes, etc."
Wafers, Paste, and Gum.--Wafers.--The common wafers are punched out of a sheet made of a paste of flour and water that has suddenly been baked hard. Gum wafers are punched out of a sheet made of thick gum and water poured on a slightly-greased surface (a looking-glass for example), another greased glass having been put on the top of the gum to make it dry even.
Paste should be made like arrowroot, by mixing the flour in a minimum of cold water, and then pouring a flush of absolutely boiling water upon it. It is made a trifle thicker and more secure from insects by the addition of alum. Corrosive sublimate is a more powerful protection against insects, but is by no means an absolute safeguard, and it is dangerous to use.
Gum.--The white of eggs forms a substitute for gum. Some sea-weeds yield gum. (See also "Glue," "Isinglass," and "Sealing-wax Varnish.")
Signets.--Many excellent and worthy bushmen have the misfortune of not knowing how to write: should any such be placed in a post of confidence by an explorer, it might be well that he should cut for himself a signet out of soft stone--such as the europeans of bygone generations, and the Turks of the last one, very generally employed. A device is cut on the seal; before using it, the paper is moistened with a wet finger, and the ink is dabbed over the ring with another; the impression is then made, using the ball of the thumb for a pad.
Sealing-wax Varnish.--Black or red sealing-wax, dissolved in spirits of wine, makes a very effective stiff and waterproof varnish, especially for boxes of paper or cardboard. It might be useful in keeping some iron things from rust: it is the same material that is used to cover toy magnets. When made stiff it is an excellent cement for small articles. Opticians employ it for many of these purposes. I have also used it as a paint for marking initials on luggage, cutting out the letters in paper and dabbing the red stuff through.
Small Boxes for Specimens.--Cut the side of a cigar-box, or a strip of pasteboard, half through in three places, add two smaller pieces like wings, one on each side, by means of a piece of gummed paper overlapping them, as in the picture.
Any number of these may be carried like the leaves of a book, and when a box is wanted they may be bent into shape, and by the adherence of the moistened gum-paper, can be made into a box at a moment's notice. The shaded border of the figure represents the gummed paper. Quills make convenient receptacles for minute specimens. They should be dressed (see "Quills"), and may be corked with a plug of wood or wax, or, for greater security, a small quill may be pushed, mouth forward, into a larger one, as into a sheath.