Diference hettveen Chinese and European ratv (Allies. 503 



ercise a permanent influence on the silk culture of China, and, 

 considering the exceedingly low rate of wages in that country, 

 the time cannot be far distant, when one may purchase 

 Chinese silk in Europe more cheaply than home-grown silk, 

 when manufacturers will find it more profitable to purchase 

 this most important raw material in China, than in Italy or 

 the South of France. Acute business-men in Hong-kong and 

 Shanghai assured us that it only needed an impulse from with- 

 out to increase the silk manufacture of China tenfold, and sup- 

 ply the annual demand for silk of the entire globe, which, if 

 we are to believe encyclopedias and such like authorities, 

 amounts to from 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 lbs. What makes 

 Chinese silk especially suitable for the European market is its 

 possessing in great perfection the two chief qualities of sub- 

 stance and colour, while, on the other hand, it is inferior to 

 that of Europe in the fineness and glossy feel of its fibre. In 

 Europe the silk is wound off from a limited number of 

 cocoons, whereas in China it is left to the discretion of the 

 workman to spin it from few or many cocoons as he pleases. 

 Hence results that inequality and unevenness in the texture 

 of the thread, a defect which cannot possibly be remedied 

 by after-manipulation, and which accordingly completely pre- 

 vents its employment in the manufacture of the more costly 

 fabrics. This drawback, which is the main reason why 

 Chinese silk does not rule the European market, will how- 

 ever admit of being remedied without any difiiculty, so soon 

 as the silk districts become more easily accessible, by the 



