o rag paper or other kinds,
because of the horrible taste it gives the tobacco.

"In China they commonly made paper of bamboo, but more
principally from cotton and a plant which travellers have cited
only by its common name, which they transcribe in various ways,
calling it _kochu_, _kotsu_, or _kotzu_. Today it is known
that this plant is an ulmacea (_Broussonetia papyrifera_)
from a mash of which they still make cloth in Japan. Cotton
paper is superior to it, and naturally more expensive; but
the paper of inferior quality which was received in Manila,
where nothing was imported regularly but common articles of low
price, was of _kotsu._ As all Chinese-made paper it was coated
with alum, the finer [the paper] the thicker [the coating],
for the purpose of whitening it and making the surface smooth,
a deplorable business, for it made the paper very moisture
absorbent, a condition fatal in such a humid climate as
in these islands. Moreover, as the alum used is impure and
contains a large proportion of iron salts, the humidity and
weather oxidize it which finally darkens the paper, so that
Philippine books present a coloration which runs the gamut
of tones from the color of bone to that of dark cinnamon." [3]

Because the Doctrina Christiana, which may well be translated "The
Teachings of Christianity," contains the basic elements of the religion
which the missionaries were trying to spread among the unbaptized
in the remote regions of the world, it was the most useful handbook
they had. A summary of the contents of the present edition shows the
fundamental character of the work. After a syllabary comes the Pater
Noster, the primary and most popular prayer of Christianity. Then
follow the Ave Maria, Credo, Salve Regina, Articles of Faith, Ten
Commandments, Commandments of the Holy Church, Sacraments of the Holy
Church, Seven Mortal Sins, Fourteen Works of Charity, Confession
and Catechism. Here in a small compass is presented the simplest,
most easily learned and most essential tenets of the Catholic Church.

So useful was the Doctrina considered as a guide for those who had
just been, or were about to be, converted that the missionary fathers
placed it in most cases foremost among the books necessary to have
in print in a strange land. It is generally accepted today, although
no extant copy is known, that the first book printed in Mexico