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from the fibre ; no suitable machine having been in- 

 vented. Several fibre cleaning machines were shown 

 at work in the eshibition, arrangements having been 

 made for a constant supply of the raw material. 

 Amongst these were remarked the Aloe fibre machine 

 such as it is employed in Mauritius, and a machine 

 patented by Dr. Forbes Watson, partly mechanical, 

 partly chemical, to prepare the rheea fibre expedi- 

 tiously and cheaply. 



SILK 



The first attempt to introduce systematic cultiva- 

 tion of silk is due to Mr. Toussaint de Chazal, who 

 brought down with him from India in 1814, various 

 economic plants, including the varieties of Mulberry 

 known as Merus Alba and Morus Tartarica, and also 

 the eggs of the common indian. silkworm. To foster 

 and encourage this industry, our first British Governor, 

 Sir R. Farquhar, gave Mr. de Chazal about 25 Indian 

 convicts, all caste men, from the neighbourhood of 

 Benares— who had been sentenced in India for rebel- 

 lion and the last of whom died in 1850. But though 

 numerous endeavours were made by residents to accli- 

 matize such a promising branch of industry, by Messrs. 

 Descroizilles, Dupont, Perrot and quite a host of 

 planters, their persistent efforts all failed before the 

 rapid extension and all absorbing cultivation of sugar, 

 the export of which ran from less than 468 tons in 

 1812, to over 332,820 tons in 1878. 



