ABSTRACT
THE first step in papermaking is to collect the bamboo. The workers cut down bamboos with knives similar to those used in basketmaking. (Each mill possesses three or four knives of this sort—a total investment of about $8.00.) The men peel off the sheathes and carry the inner portions back to the village, where they cut them into pieces about 3 feet in length and then split them into strips about an inch wide. These strips are dried in the sun for two or three months, when they are ready to make into pulp. The bamboo used to make paper is a special variety, locally called fung-we (meaning “tail of a mythical bird”), which grows to a height of 20–30 feet and is about 3–4 inches in diameter. This variety is used because the inner part of the stem is thick. To cultivate bamboo requires no fertilizer. The sandy land around the river is the best place for bamboo. According to the villagers, every year that the river floods it carries in a layer of sand, and the next year the bamboo thrives.
