118 History of Nature. [Boox VI. 



with a multitude of Wild Beasts, lying in wait for Men as 

 savage as themselves. Then again the Scythians ; and again 

 a Wilderness full of Wild Beasts, as far as to the craggy 

 Mountain overlook ing the Sea, called Tabis. Almost one-half 

 of the length of that Coast, which looketh toward the East, 

 is uninhabited. The first of the People that are known are 

 the Seres, 1 famous for the fine Silk that their Woods yield. 

 They collect from the Leaves of the Trees their hoary Down, 

 and when it is steeped in Water they card it ; wherein our 

 Women have a double Labour, both of undoing and again of 

 weaving this kind of Thread : with so much Labour and so 

 far away is it sought after, that our Matrons when they go 

 abroad in the street may shine with Transparency. The 

 Seres are a mild People, but they resemble Beasts, in that they 

 fly the Company of other People 2 when they desire inter- 



the Samoieds, in the north of Russia : their name signifying people who 

 eat each other ; but the word has long survived the practice it described. 

 Ovid speaks of such a people seated near the place of his exile on the 

 Euxine : 



" Illi quos audis hominum gaudere cruore." 



TRIST. 1. 4., explained by AGELL. ix. 4. Wern. Club. 



1 There can be no question that the people here referred to are the 

 Chinese, who are again mentioned in the 22d chapter. It was a pardon- 

 able error to suppose that silk was the produce of a tree, instead of being 

 the production of a creature which fed on it ; but it appears that the 

 Romans were at great pains in disentangling the woven texture, that 

 it might again be formed into garments which better suited their taste 

 or habits. Martial speaks of this material under the name of Bombycina 

 (Apophoreta, 24), and from his account it was of very fine texture, and 

 probably expensive. When it was worn, the hair was bound up into a 

 knot and fastened with a gold pin, in order that it might not soil so 

 exquisite a dress. It permitted the beauty of form and colour to be seen 

 through its substance. 



" Foemineum lucet sic per bombycina corpus :" 

 So female beauty shines through woven silk. 



Epig. B. 8. 68. 



See book ii. c. xxii. where Pliny corrects the errors of this chapter. 

 Wern. Club. 



2 Even at this day they set abroad their wares with the prices, upon 

 the shore, and go their ways : then the foreign merchants come and lay 

 down the money, and have away the merchandise ; and so depart with- 

 out any communication at all. 



