[44] A precedent of a similar permission, formerly granted to the medical men of the factory, was found, but, upon a critical examination of Thunberg’s commission, he appeared to be a surgeon, whereas he to whom permission had formerly been granted had been surgeon’s mate, and it took three months to get over this difficulty, and to persuade the Japanese that these two officers were in substance the same.
[45] This species, the Dioscorea Japonica (confounded sometimes with the sweet potato), has been lately introduced into the United States.
[46] Kämpfer who describes the Camellia under the Japanese name of Tsubaki, speaks of it as a large shrub, almost a tree. Thunberg represents it as attaining the size of a large tree, exceedingly common in groves and gardens, and a very great favorite, as well for its polished, evergreen leaves as from the size, beauty, and variety of its blossoms, which appear from April to October, single and red in the wild ones, but double and of several colors, red, purple, white, etc., in the cultivated varieties, of which the Japanese assured Kämpfer there were several hundreds. Siebold describes the wild kind as a small tree, growing in clumps and thickets, often with many shoots from the same root, from fifteen to twenty feet high; while a much larger size is attained by the cultivated kinds. The name of Camellia was given to the genus by Linnæus, in honor of George Joseph Kamel, a Jesuit missionary, who sent to Ray descriptions of the plants of the Philippine Islands, published by him at the end of his “History of Plants.” The single-flowering variety was introduced into England, about 1739, by Lord Petre probably from China, of which it is a native, in common with quite a number of plants, to which the specific epithet Japanese has been applied. As late as 1788 (as appears from Curtis’ “Botanical Magazine,” vol. i) it was very rare and costly. Down to that time it had been treated as a stove-plant, but soon after, on Curtis’ suggestion, it was introduced into conservatories, of which it soon became the pride, and was even found hardy enough to bear the winter in the open air. Previous to 1806 a number of varieties were imported from China; many others were produced in Europe, and already by 1825 these varieties had become very numerous (see “Botanical Magazine,” vols. xl and lvi). The Camellia sasankwa is smaller, with smaller leaves and flowers, very closely resembling the tea-plant; and, in packing their teas, the Chinese are in the habit of putting some of the blossoms into the chests. It is extensively cultivated for its oil, in China as well as in Japan.
[47] The Japanese paper, as well for writing and printing as for the household uses to which it is so extensively put, is manufactured from the bark of the young twigs of the paper mulberry (Morus papyrifira). Kämpfer has given a particular account of it in the appendix to his work. That account, which, now that so many experiments are on foot for the manufacture of paper, may suggest some useful hints, is abridged by Thunberg as follows:
“After the tree has shed its leaves in the month of December, they cut off the young shoots about three feet in length, which they tie up in bundles and boil in a lye of ashes, standing inverted in a copper kettle till the bark is so shrunk that half an inch of the woody part is seen bare at the ends. If the twigs grow dry before they can be boiled, they are first soaked in water for four-and-twenty hours. When sufficiently boiled, they are taken out and the bark cut lengthwise and stripped off. After being soaked in water for three hours, the exterior black skin and the green part beneath it is scraped off with a knife, and the bark is then sorted into qualities; that which is a full year’s growth makes the best paper, and the less mature an inferior quality. Thus prepared and sorted, it is again boiled in a clear lye, being perpetually stirred, and fresh lye supplied to make up for the evaporation; and this process is continued till the bark is dissolved, as it were, separating into flocks and fibres. It must then be washed,—a process requiring care and judgment, as, if not carried far enough, the paper will be coarse, and if too far, thin and slazy. This is done in a running stream, by means of a sieve containing the material, which is perpetually stirred till it is diluted into a delicate, soft pap. For the finer kinds this washing is repeated, a piece of linen being substituted for the sieve, to prevent the finer parts from being carried away. After being washed, it is beaten with sticks of hard wood, on a wooden table, till it is brought to a pulp, which if put into water will dissolve and disperse like meal.
“It is then mixed in a tub with a clammy infusion, obtained by soaking rice in cold water, and with another mucilaginous infusion, obtained in the like manner from the root of Oreni (Hibiscus manihot). This mixture, upon which much depends, and the proportions of which vary with the season of the year, succeeds best in a narrow tub, and requires perpetual stirring. The whole is then put into a larger tub, from which the sheets are taken out and put between mats made of delicate grass straw, and laid one upon another in heaps, being pressed at first lightly, but gradually harder and harder, till the water is squeezed out. They are then laid upon a board to dry in the sun; after which they are packed in bundles for sale and use.
“For the coarser kinds of paper other sorts of bark are sometimes used.
“The Japanese paper is very close and strong. It will bear being twisted into ropes, and is occasionally used even for dresses.”
[48] Caron, whose opportunities of knowledge upon this point were much superior to those of Thunberg or any subsequent observer, is very explicit upon this point. “The parents educate their children with great care. They are not forever bawling in their ears, and they never use them roughly. When they cry they show a wonderful patience in quieting them, knowing well that young children are not of an age to profit by reprimands. This method succeeds so well, that Japanese children, ten or twelve years old, behave with all the discretion and propriety of grown people. They are not sent to school till they are seven or eight years old, and then they are not forced to study things for which they have no inclination.”
[49] In Kämpfer’s time no personal intercourse was allowed with those of whom articles were bought at Ōsaka, Miyako, and Yedo. In this respect there would seem to have been a relaxation.