An Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet - Prajna Quest

TIBET. 323selves from the fibrous root of a small shrub, and the leaf bears theimpression of the characters designed for it, on each side. The leavesof a book, when they are completed, areloosely put together, placedupon each other, and enclosed between two equal slips of wood ascovers.The southern Indians, who dwell along the margin of the sea, andnever, I believe, possessed the art of printing, engrave their worksupon the recent leaf of the palmira tree', which, growing atthe extremityof a long footstalk, is naturally formed in narrow folds, like ahalf extended fan, and is easily divided into segments^ about twoinches in width-In correspondence to the purpose required, the fairestparts of the leaf are selected, and uniformly shaped by means of asharp knife.On either side of these narrow slips, letters are traced orengraven, by means of a strong steel stylus, which makes an indelibleimpression; though sometimes, to render the writing more distinctlylegible, the traces of the point are lightly powdered, by the dust collectedfrom the fume of their midnight lamps.This simple method oftransmitting records to future times, is practised in those countriesalone, in which the palm tree thrives. The leaf must be used whilefresh ; its fibrous substance seems indestructible by vermin.The printed and written character, appropriate to works of learningand religion, is styled, in the language of Tibet, the Ucken ; that inwhich business and correspondence is carried on, is called the Uinin.As a specimen of the style and manner of writing, a short letter, thefac simile of one in my possession, received from the Daeb Raja, is'Borassus flabelliformis.T t