plishment, that a clever moulder will furnish 3500 pipes in a week.

The kiln used for baking the pipes is cylindrical; having a circular fireplace at its bottom.

Fig. 13.

With the

exception of the spaces required for the circulation of heated air, the interior of the kiln is occupied by crucibles, wherein the pipes are placed. These crucibles, which are made very thin, are composed of the same clay as the pipes, and are strengthened by the insertion of broken pipe-stems. The bottoms are framed of these stems, radiating towards the centre, and having the interstices plastered with pipe clay. The top of each is dome-shaped; and a pillar of clay is placed in the centre through the whole altitude, which serves at once to strengthen the crucible, and to support the stems of the pipes. The side of the crucible is provided with six horizontal ledges, proceeding at equal distances all round, and upon these the bowls of the pipes are arranged, while the stems are made to lean against the central pillar. The crucible is capable of containing in these six divisions fifty gross of pipes; and, if the heat of the furnace is properly managed, these will be sufficiently baked in seven or eight hours.

The property possessed by tobacco pipes of adhesiveness to the tongue, is owing to the great affinity which the clay has for water: this quality is much increased by the baking process.

The manufacture of tobacco pipes is prosecuted to a very considerable extent in Holland, whence large quantities have long been exported annually. For the introduction of this art the Dutch are indebted to this country; in proof of which assertion, Mr. Hollis, who passed through the Netherlands in 1748, mentions that, having visited very extensive pipe-works at Gouda, he was informed by the master of it, that even to that day their principal working tools bore English names.

CHAP. VIII.

ON THE PORCELAIN MANUFACTURE OF CHINA.

OBSCURITY

WHEREIN ITS ORIGIN IS

SHIROUDED. - CHIEFLY PRACTISED AT KING-TE-CHING. -SUPPOSED SUPERIORITY OF OLD CHINA WARE. MATERIALS EMPLOYED. -KAO-LIN PE-TUN-TSE-THEIR PREPARATION. OILS OR VARNISHESTHEIR COMPOSITION. HAO-CHE ITS SUPERIORITY TO KAOLIN. ANALYSIS OF KAO-LIN. EXTENT OF FACTORIES AT KING-TE-CHING. GREAT NUMBER OF WORKMEN EMPLOYED. PREPARATION OF MATERIALS. METHOD OF FASHIONING UTENSILS. MOULDS. — DIVISION OF LABOUR. DEFICIENCY OF CHINESE IN THE ART OF DESIGN. THEIR EXCELLENT COLOURS. NUMEROUS HANDS EMPLOYED IN DECORATING EACH PIECE. BAD EFFECT OF THIS SYSTEM. BLUE LONG THE ONLY COLOUR USED FOR PAINTING CHINA WARE. MODE OF PREPARING VARIOUS COLOURS. CHINESE IGNORANT OF CHEMICAL SCIENCE. UMIAM. TSOU-TCHI.- KIA-TSINGMETHOD OF FORMING IT. CHINESE FURNACES. PASSION FOR OLD PORCELAIN.KU-TONG. MOCK ANTIQUES. REASONS FOR COSTLINESS OF CHINA WARE IN EUROPE. -HIGH PRICES FORMERLY PAID IN CHINA. FINEST SPECIMENS NOT BROUGHT TO EUROPE. PORCELAIN TOWER AT NAN-KING. CHINESE POTTERS PREPARE MATERIALS FOR THE USE OF THEIR DESCENDANTS. COMMON WARES MADE IN CHINA.- ATTEMPT OF THE EMPEROR TO TRANSFER THE MANUFACTURE TO PEKIN. HIS WANT OF SUCCESS.

No success has attended any efforts that have been made to discover the origin of the art of making porcelain in China, and the date of its invention remains veiled in obscurity. The most that is known on this head is gathered from the written annals of Feou-leang, a city belonging to the same district of the empire as King-te-ching, wherein it is recorded that, from the time answering to the year 442 of the Christian era, the last-mentioned place has enjoyed the honour of supplying the imperial court with porcelain, and that

one or two mandarins have usually been deputed from Pekin to inspect this part of the workman's labours. The invention of the art would assuredly date from a much earlier period than that here mentioned; as it would be long ere the manufacture arrived at such a state of perfection as to render it an object of interest to the court.

It is a very common opinion in China, that the porcelain ware made by their ancestors was superior in quality to any more recently manufactured. This belief is grounded on the fact, that pieces of porcelain are frequently dug from the earth, which are uniformly found to be of the very finest description. It has been remarked, that this fact is not by any means conclusive evidence upon the subject; the buried pieces were most probably concealed, during periods of civil commotion, on account of their value, and in order to preserve them for their owners, who were without an equal inducement to bury articles of more common use. opinion likewise prevails, and is supported by reference to the same fact, that the quality of porcelain vessels is improved in beauty by a lengthened burying in the earth; and the same answer has been applied to this as to the first-mentioned assertion.

An

The Chinese employ in the composition of their porcelain two kinds of earths, and two oils or varnishes. Of the earths one, which is called kao-lin, is found intermixed with particles of a shining substance resembling mica; the other is known by the name of pe-tun-tse, and is of a brilliant white, exceedingly fine in its grain, and soft to the touch. Both these descriptions of earths are found in mines or quarries situated between twenty and thirty leagues from Kingte-tching, to which place they are brought in small vessels, which are continually passing up and down the river of Jao-tcheou for that purpose. The hard blocks of pe-tun-tse are cut from the quarry in the form and about the size of our bricks, and are brought in this state to King-te-tching. The first preparation which

these lumps undergo, is that of breaking and pounding them coarsely with iron mallets, and afterwards more completely in mortars with pestles, wrought either by the hand or by a water-wheel. By this means the blocks of pe-tun-tse are reduced to an almost impalpable powder, which is thrown into an urn-shaped vessel nearly filled with water, and then stirred briskly about, that the particles may be intimately mixed with the water. When this mixing has been effected, and the fluid has been left during a short time to repose, a white creamy substance forms upon the surface, to the depth of two or three inches: this, being skimmed off, is transferred to another vessel, supplied with clear The fluid remaining in the first vessel is then again stirred up; another portion forms upon the surface, which in its turn is removed, and added to the first skimming; and this process is continued as long as any creamy substance can be collected from the surface. What remains in the urn-shaped vessel has not been sufficiently ground; and, being collected from the bottom, must be again submitted to the process of grinding.

water.

The skimmings are left to settle in the second vessel, until the solid portion has subsided to the bottom, leaving the supernatant water perfectly clear: this is then poured off; the sediment is transferred to moulds, wherein it remains until nearly dry; and the cakes are then taken out and cut into square pieces of the size most convenient for use. The pe-tun-tse is then in a fit state for combination with kao-lin; and the squares are sold by the hundred to the porcelain makers. It is not often that the manufacturer can venture upon using this material in the state wherein he buys it; the men who have been previously employed in preparing the cakes, most generally mix in the squares as large a portion of foreign matter as they expect will escape detection: a separation of these previously to the employment of the earth becomes, therefore, needful.

A similar process is followed in the preparation of