It is cut into small rolls
fully a foot long, which are burnished by means of stones, and then are
fit for writing.'
"Sir Aurel Stein[9] reports that paper is still manufactured from mulberry
trees in Khotan. Also J. Wiesner,[10] the meritorious investigator of
ancient papers, has included the fibres of Morus alba and M. nigra
among the material to which his researches extended.
"Mulberry-bark paper is ascribed to Bengal in the Si yang ch'ao kung tien
lu by Wu Kien-hwang, published in 1520.[11]
"As the mulberry tree is eagerly cultivated in Persia in connection with
the silk industry, it is possible also that the Persian paper in the
banknotes of the Mongols was a product of the mulberry.[12] At any rate,
good Marco Polo is cleared, and his veracity and exactness have been
established again."
XXIV., p. 427.
VALUE OF GOLD.
"L'or valait quatre fois son poids d'argent au commencement de la dynastie
Ming (1375), sept ou huit fois sous l'empereur Wan-li de la meme dynastie
(1574), et dix fois a la fin de la dynastie (1635); plus de dix fois sous
K'ang hi (1662); plus de vingt fois sous le regne de K'ien long; dix-huit
fois au milieu du regne de Tao-koang (1840), quatorze fois au commencement
du regne de Hien-fong (1850); dix-huit fois en moyenne dans les annees
1882-1883.