iCo CHINA. 



Silk, of Pliny. Among the procluilions of this province is the famous worm 

 producing the filk mentioned by Pliny '^i which that naturahft, 

 with other antient writers, believed to have been a vegetable 

 combed from the leaves and branches of trees. I vindicate his 

 opinion fo far as to fay that it was colledled from a plant, but he 

 was i^rnorant that it was the produce of an infe6t. Du Halde t 

 gives an account of its hiftory, but leaves us in the dark as to 

 the fpecies of infe<ft which yielded this kind of filk. Speaking of 

 a certain fort of filk manufadlured at Tri-nan^ a cjty of this pro- 

 vince, he fiys, that the fluffs named Kyen-cbeiv incline to a 

 greyifli color, which is produced only by the wild worms, re- 

 fembling caterpillars. Thefe worms fpin their webs on flirubs 

 and buflies, and furnifh as great quantities as the domeftic 

 worms. This filk is the more eflimable, as it cods in a manner 

 nothing, and fo il:rong, that the goods made of it are very 

 lafting, and have a tolerable vent every where. 



Province OF The gulph, from Ten-cboo-foOi retires far towards the fouth, 



P£-CHE-LI. 1 . T o / 1 • 1 



then returns northward, and m Lat. 30° 12 begms the provmce 

 oi Pe-che-Ii, which in Lat. 39° takes a north-eaftern direcSlion, 

 and on the gulph finiflies this great empire, in Lat. 40°. The 

 capital, Peking, is about a hundred miles from the mouth of the 

 TiAN-siN, Port Pei-ho, on which is Tian-fui, the port of the capital. The river 

 flows far to the fouth-weft, out of the lake Tay-boo, A canal 

 joins it about thirty miles from the fea, and receives the velfels 

 which arc to difcharge their ladings near to the imperial refi- 

 dence. This province was conquered in about 1324 from the 

 Tartars, by Tay-i/u, the firft emperor of the dynafty of Myng; 



• Lib. vi. c. 17. -J- Vol. i. p. 104; 



he 



