MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 199 



and women, and in the first year of their operation, 

 1,200,000 pounds of fine floss silk were produced and 

 sold, which, valued at four dollars per pound, amounts 

 to four millions eight hundred thousand dollars. Mr. 

 Castellas presented me with several bundles of the 

 silk which he manufactured, and it was pronounced 

 far superior in quality to the French or Italian silk, 

 by every connoisseur to whom I showed it afterwards 

 in my travels through Germany and France. 



That enterprising and excellent man died two years 

 after I left the Crimea, and while I was in St. Domin- 

 go, and my 'deep grief at his untimely departure and 

 my loss, were only assuaged by the sweet hope of 

 once more meeting him bevond the grave. He has 

 left this world forever, and his grand and extensive 

 establishments have probably perished from neglect ; 

 for a country where 1,200,000 idle soldiers rule the in- 

 habitants with a rod of iron and suck their life-blood, 

 cannot well, or long succeed in such enterprises. 



It seems to me a matter of regret, and a great defi- 

 ciency in our views of political economy, that the peo- 

 ple of the United States of America have not been 

 more persevering and successful in raising their own 

 silk, for the impoitation of which, they pay so many 

 millions of dollars annually. It is true, that a few in- 

 dividuals here and there, are occupied in this lucrative 

 branch of industry, and I was happy to be able to 

 purchase some fine silk handkerchiefs at Rapp's Econ- 



