worm, there seems to be little doubt that practically all trace 

 their descent to one species whose home was the lower slopes of 

 the Himalaya Mountains. The silk industry dates back to about 

 3000 B. C. in China. We are told that the Chinese Empress 

 Se-ling-she encouraged the cultivation of the mulberry and even 

 cared for the silkworms with her own hands as long ago as 2640 

 B. C. Most carefully the Chinese guarded the secret of the in- 

 dustry, the penalty for its disclosure being death. Legend tells 

 us that a Chinese princess who married an Indian prince car- 

 ried with her to India the precious eggs, concealed in the braids 

 of her hair, and a most rich dowry they proved. Miss Kelly, 

 to whom I owe many of the facts here given, further states that 

 ' ' not until the sixth century did Europeans even know that silk 

 was an animal and not a vegetable product. Then the secret 

 was disclosed to them by two monks, who, stimulated by a rich 

 reward offered by the Emperor Justinian, brought into Con- 

 stantinople some silkworm eggs hidden in their hollow distaffs. 

 From these was started the silk industry in Europe which has 

 laid the foundation of colossal fortunes in England, France, and 

 Italy." 



At the time of the settlement of the first southern colonies in 

 North America, England hoped that silk culture in this country 

 might make her independent of the Orient. In 1671 Captain 

 HalstedS sailing to South Carolina, was instructed to carry to 

 the new colony mulberry trees and silkworms from Virginia. 

 Little seems to have been accomplished, however, in Carolina 

 until Sir Nathaniel Johnson* introduced silk culture on his plan- 

 tation, known as Silk Hope, on the Cooper River. Later Mrs. 

 Elizabeth Pinckney was so successful with silk raising that she 

 carried with her to England silk of a quality equal to the best 

 and sufficient for three dresses. One of these is now preserved 

 in Charleston. Until the end of the eighteenth century silk was 

 produced at times even abundantly in South Carolina but since 



'Shaftesbury papers. Coll. S. C. Hist. Soe. V. 1897, 321. 



^Ramwy, David. History of South-Carolina. 1809. vol. 2. pp. 220-221. 



