SILK-WORMS AND SERICULTURE. 667 



the privileges of her rank to violate the laws of the empire. On ap- 

 proaching the frontier, the princess concealed in her hair some mul- 

 berry-seed and eggs of the butterfly. The guards dared not put their 

 hands on the head of a " Princess of Heaven ; " eggs and seeds passed 

 the officer without disturbance, and prospered well in Khokan, situated 

 near the middle of Asia. 



And so commenced that journey which was not to be arrested till 

 the entire world possessed the mulberry and the silk-worm ; but it 

 was accomplished slowly and with long halts. That which had oc- 

 curred in China occurred everywhere, each new state that obtained 

 the precious seeds attempting prohibition. 



The silk-worm and mulberry got to Europe in 552, under Justinian. 

 At this time two monks of the order of St. Basil delivered to this em- 

 peror the seeds, said to have come from the heart of Asia. To smug- 

 gle them, they had taken still greater precautions than the Chinese 

 princess, for they hollowed out their walking-sticks, and filled the in- 

 terior with the precious material. The Emperor Justinian did not 

 imitate the Asiatic potentates, but sought to propagate and extend 

 the silk-manufacture. Morea, Sicily, and Italy, were the first Euro- 

 pean countries that accepted and cultivated the new products. 



It was not till the twelfth or thirteenth century that the silk-worm 

 penetrated into France. Louis XL planted mulberry-trees around his 

 Chateau of Plessis-les-Tours. Besides, he called a Calabrian named 

 Francis to initiate the neighboring population in raising this precious 

 insect, and developing the several industries that are connected with it. 

 Under Henry IV., sericulture received a great impulse, thanks chiefly, 

 perhaps, to a simple gardener of Nimes named Francois Traucat. It 

 is always said that this nurseryman distributed throughout the neigh- 

 boring country more than four million mulberry-sprouts. In enrich- 

 ing the country, Traucat acquired a considerable fortune ; but he lost 

 it foolishly. He had heard of treasures buried near a great castle 

 which commanded the town of Nimes, and which is called the Castle 

 of Magne. He wished to increase the money he had nobly and use- 

 fully gained, by this imaginary gold ; he bought the great castle and 

 neighboring ground, and dug the earth, which brought him nothing, 

 till he ruined himself. 



The minister of Louis XIV., Colbert, sought also to propagate the 

 mulberry. Sully with reluctance had done the same, and sent trees 

 to various parts of the kingdom, some of which were still living when 

 I was a child. They were called by the name of this minister, and I 

 remember to have seen two of them in my father's grounds, which no 

 longer bore leaves, but were piously preserved as souvenirs of their 

 origin. 



To lead in the development of sericulture, a man was needed who 

 would not hesitate to set an example, and to make considerable sacri- 

 fices. This man, I am proud to say, was a modest officer, Captain 



