Page:China- Its State and Prospects.djvu/138

process. The first business is to procure the stones, and make the paste, which is commonly done in the district of Hwuy-chow, in the province of Keang-nan. The paste is then scoured and worked, and the glaze ashes prepared. These are formed of a sort of fern, with the powder of a blueish-white stone, to which a portion of fine Petuntse is added; forming together a thick paste. The next process is to form the earthern boxes in which the ware is baked, and the moulds for the round ware. The biscuit is then turned on a lathe, and formed into vases and other articles. After this the unburnt shade-dried biscuit is fitted to the mould, and the excrescences cut and pared off. These broken bits are pounded to a milky consistency for the use of the painters. Numbers of lame and blind, old and young, earn a scanty livelihood by pounding these pieces, — their wages being only half-a-crown per month; though some by working two pestles, and continuing half the night, get double wages. The ware is then painted, which work is divided amongst two sets of artists, the one drawing the outline, and the other laying on the colours, "in order to render the workman's hand uniform, and keep his mind undiverted." They glaze by the brush, the dip, or the blow tube. The latter is a recent invention, consisting of a bamboo about eight inches long, having its end covered with a thin gauze, through which the workman blows a certain number of times, according to the size of the ware, or the consistence of the varnish. Till this period, two or three inches of earth are left at the bottom of the vessel as a handle; but now the handle is taken away, and the foot formed. After this, it is but into the furnace and burned for some time, when the process is