32 THE BAMBOO GARDEN CHAP. 
Mulberry were confined to China; those which haunt the 
Pine, the Oak, and the Ash were common in the forests both 
of Asia and Europe, but as their education is more difficult 
and their produce more uncertain, they were generally 
neglected, except in the little island of Ceos, near the coast 
of Attica. The Persians had the monopoly of the trade in 
Chinese silk. This was a matter of deep concern to 
Justinian, who endeavoured to procure the raw material for 
his looms through his adventurous Christian allies, the 
Abyssinians, who at that time were a naval and commercial 
power. His negotiations failed, the Abyssinians declining a 
competition with the Persians, whose proximity to India 
must give them an overwhelming advantage. Another 
expedient, however, presented itself. Two Persian monks, 
who had long been resident in China, travelled to Constanti- 
nople, a giant’s journey, and proposed to the Emperor that 
they should endeavour to introduce the eggs of the silkworm 
into Europe. The offer was accepted and liberally encouraged 
by Justinian. The two monks returned to China, and by 
smuggling the eggs in the hollow of a cane contrived to 
elude the vigilance of the Chinese, and made their way 
safely to Constantinople with their precious treasure. It is 
not too much to say that in that fragment of Bamboo were 
carried the future commercial fortunes of Lyons, of Genoa, 
of Spitalfields, and all the other great manufactories of 
Europe, for from those eggs were descended all the races 
and varieties which stocked the Western World. But the 
pity of it is that we have not the record of the travels and 
adventures of those two Persian monks! This memorable 
importation is assigned to the year 552 A.D. (Gibbon, 
