RICE PAPER. The substance which has received this name in Europe, through the mistaken notion that it is made from rice, consists of the pith of a small tree Arabia papyrifera cut into thin slices. The tree grows in the swampy forests of Formosa and apparently nowhere else, and large quantities of the stems are conveyed to Chin-chew, where the snow-white delicate pith is carefully sliced by spiral cuts into uniform sheets of a fine ivory-like texture. It is dyed various colours, and extensively used for the preparation of artificial flowers, while the white sheets are employed by native artists for water-colour drawings.