PRODUCTION OF SILK. 141 



corn, for which they have long been famous. Their 

 principal factories are at Palermo, at Catania and Mes- 

 sina. 



Roger, king of Sicily, after he had finished his cru- 

 sades to the Holy Land, invaded Greece in 1146. Here 

 he made captive and stole many of the weavers and 

 manufacturers. These he carried and settled at Paler- 

 mo. These first taught the Sicilians to raise and man- 

 ufacture silk. Thus the silks of Sicily in twenty years 

 became very famous, being adorned with various colors 

 and figures, and being interwoven with gold and embel- 

 lished with pearls. 



Italy has for many centuries been famous for its silk 

 manufactures and its culture. The silk reel which has 

 served as the foundation or model for others now in use, 

 was first invented and used in Piedmont. And till the 

 beginning of the 16th century, Bologna was the only 

 city in Italy, or indeed in any other country, which pos- 

 sessed throwing mills, or the suitable machinery for 

 twisting and preparing the silken fibres for the weaver. 



Such is the great extent of the culture of silk through- 

 out Italy, that according to Count Dandolo, two-thirds 

 of all the exports from that country consist of raw silk 

 or its manufactures. This nobleman examined all the 

 systems and modes of treatment of the silk-worm, with 

 scientific research and diligent care; and not content 

 with disseminating widely by his writings the practical 

 information he had by long experience acquired, he in- 

 vited the great proprietors, his countrymen, to send pu- 

 pils to be instructed by him, that thus they might ob- 

 tain practical instruction on his modes of treatment. 



Soon after the publication of the celebrated treatise 

 of Count Dandolo, extensive establishments were formed 

 in Lombardy on the principles and plan which he had 

 recommended. These were called Dandolieres, as a 

 testimony of honor and respect to disinterested philan- 

 thropy. 



In Switzerland the extraordinary progress of the silk 



