WHlTE-FRflTED MULBERRY-TUEE. 44V 



The Chinese appear to have heeii the first to cuUivate the mulberry for feeding 

 silkworms; and they are supposed to have discovered tlie art of making this del- 

 icate luxury 27U0 B. C, in the reign of Emperor Hong, wliose Empress. Si-hng- 

 chi, is said to have first observed the operations of the silkworm on wild mulberry- 

 trees, and applied their labours to the production of silk. She collected them from 

 the trees, and, with the aid of the females attached to her household, attended 

 them with much care, in the imperial apartments, supplied them with mulberry- 

 leaves, and kept them very clean. It was soon found that they thrived much 

 better in this manner than in the open air, where they were constantly exposed 

 to their natural enemies, serpents, spiders, vVc, and to the ill effects of changes of 

 temperature. The cocoons, produced in rooms, were more numerous, larger, and 

 of better quality, than those gathered from the trees. Care was afterwards taken 

 to hatch the eggs in rooms, and the superiority of this artificial mode of culture 

 soon became more and more manifest, which was followed by the successive sove- 

 reigns of that empire, and all the rich and alHuent were dressed in garments of 

 silk. Subsequently, it became an article of exportation, and a source of great 

 wealth. The traders of Serica first carried the silken stutfs over the whole 

 breadth of Asia. Their caravans performed long journeys of two hundred and 

 forty-three days, from the " far coasts" of China to those of Syria. The cidture 

 spread from China to India, Persia, and Arabia, and was for many centuries, as 

 t is at the present day, a great source of wealth to these countries. 



The expedition of Alexander the Great into Persia and India, first introduced 

 the knowledge of silk to the Greeks, about 350 years B. C. ; and, with the 

 increase of wealth and luxury in the Grecian court, the demand for silken goods 

 prodigiously augmented. The Persians engrossed, for a time, the trade of Greece, 

 and became fich from the commerce of silk, which they procured from China. 

 Among the most active traders of that epoch were the Phosnicians, who were also 

 engaged in the traffic of silk, and carried it to the east of Europe; but for a long 

 time, even those who were concerned in its commerce, knew not what it was, how 

 it was produced, nor where was situated the country of Serica, from which it 

 originally came. Some, supposing it to be grown on trees, as hair grows on ani- 

 mals; others, that it was produced by a shell-fish, similar to a mussel, which is 

 known to throw out threads for the purpose of attaching itself to rocks; others, 

 that it was the entrails of a sort of spider, which was fed for four years with paste, 

 and then with the leaves of a kind of green willow, till it burst with fat; and 

 others, that it was the product of a worm which built nests of clay, and collected 

 wax. But Aristotle, with more truth, thought it was unwound from the pupa of 

 a large horned caterpillar. 



From Greece, the use of silk passed into Rome; and, though the exact year of 

 its introduction is unknown, it was probably about the time of Pompey and Julius 

 Caesar; the latter, we find, having used it in his festivals. In the reign of Tibe- 

 rius, an edict was passed, prohibiting the use of silk as etfemiuate. Among all 

 the articles of elegance belonging to the luxurious Cleopatra, none seemed more 

 to excite admiration and astonishment, than the silken sails of her pleasure barge, 

 in which she visited Alexandria. Hcliogabalus. in the year 2'2() of our era. is 

 said to have been the first emperor who wore a robe made entirely of silk ; which 

 then, and for some time afterwards, sold for its weight in gold. Aurelian, in the 

 year 280, is said to have denied his Empress, Severa, a robe of silk, because it 

 was too dear. 



About the beginning of the Vlth century, after the seat of the Roman empire had 

 been transferred to Constantinople, two monks arrived at the court of the Empe- 

 ror Justinian, from a mission into China, bringing with them the seeds of the 

 mulberry, and commimicated to him the discovery of the mode of roaring silk- 

 worms. Although the exportation of the insects from China, was prohibited, on 



