CHAPTER FORTY THREE.
THE PAPER-TREE.
To the great delight of the party, it turned out just as Karl had conjectured.

The thicket that he had spoken of was composed chiefly of daphne shrubs--judging by the appearance of the fallen leaves, and some berries that still remained on the branches, Karl believed them to be of this species.

But the bark was also a characteristic: being exceedingly tenacious, and moreover of a strongly acrid taste--so much so as to cauterise he skin of Ossaroo's mouth, who had been foolish enough to chew it too freely.
After duly examining the leaves, berries, and bark, the botanist came to the conclusion that the shrub must be a true daphne; and so in reality it was--that species known in Nepaul as the _Daphne Bholua_--from which, as already stated, the Nepaulese manufacture a coarse, but soft paper.
As soon as this point was determined to their satisfaction, they resolved upon carrying Caspar's hint into execution--by trying the experiment of a paper kite.
But for Karl's practical education--which had made him acquainted not only with the botanical characters of plants and trees, but also with their uses--and in some cases with the mode of using them--the mere discovery of the daphne would have availed them nothing.

As it stood in the thicket, it was no more like paper than any of the trees that grew around it.

Indeed, there were many others that would have yielded bark in broader flakes than it, and much more resembling paper: for that of the daphne, stripping off as it did in narrow pieces, looked like the last thing in the world of which to make a kite out of.