Show HONOR DEAD BY BURNING MONEY village in indochina indo china does thriving business supplying funerals the world depression has not of dimmed in the slightest degree the prosperity of the little village tillage of lang buol in french indochina indo china the inhabitants of which continue to turn out paper money by the ton to bo be burned at funerals so the deceased will have plenty of money la in the next world dard hunter one of the leading authorities in this country on the art of papermaking would not however recommend the same panacea for the united states prosperity he said on his bis return after a four months journey to the far east mr hunter whose contributions to the art of papermaking have won him the title of the modern gutenberg and the gold medal ot of the american institute of graphic arts went to Lang buol because he had heard that its inhabitants were operating atin the oldest paper mill in the world ile he reported that the lan lang buol ellla villagers ars were carrying on the craft of papermaking which their ancestors first began on the same site about years ago their papermaking ing methods are very prImI primitive tITe and crude mr explained apparently they have not changed in any marked degree since the invention of paper away back in A D the product turned out by the villa villagers ers buot buol Is pretty terrible stuff however they are satisfied with it and dont seem to be able to turn out enough of the spirit money for which there Is a great dl demand mand all through indochina indo china about men women and children live in Lang buol which Is a thatched root roof settlement along a mud trail on the edge of the jungle fifteen miles north of banol all the inhabitants work on some phase ot of papermaking but the best craftsmanship and the chief energies of the villagers are devoted to the production of writ spirit money there are two principal varieties of f this money one kind consists of ordinary perforated paper this Is used at the funerals of ordinary citizens who it Is believed will have no great need of large funds in heaven A special brand of spirit money artfully decorated with lavish illustrations of gods Is burned at the funeral of the aristocrats of indochina indo china the aristocratic brand of spirit money Is in high denominations it burns barns with a heavy acrid smoke which floats lazily toward the blue skies sides but eventually manages to reach the departed aristocrat in heaven according to the firm belief of the indo ind o chinese priests the paper mills of Lang buol are probably the most remote and inaccessible ces sible in the horld orld sir mr hunter said raid in spite of this Lang buol Is the chief source ot of paper for all in do china the daily output averages about reams of sheets sheet each almost all of which consists consist of spirit money bamboo fibers plentiful in the nearby near by jungles are the source of lan bools paper lie bamboo Is cut and then boiled in lime then it Is washed in a stream meandering through the village and beaten by liand hand until it becomes pulp the pulp Is placed next in a wooden vat containing water when a screen of bamboo reeds Is dipped in this vat the bamboo fibers cling to the screen these fibers are removed and mide into the famous lang buol paper two cases filled with lang buol spirit money were among mr hunters luggage some of this money will be used to illustrate a book his fifteenth which sir mr hunter write on the origin and history of papermaking the rest will go to the smithsonian institution and other museums |