AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES. 187 



northward from the Mediterranean — the more so as every innova- 

 tion has to contend against prejudices, especially on the *part of 

 a conservative peasantry. Even such a clear-sighted man as the 

 minister Sully, for example, could not comprehend how such 

 an insignificant insect as the silkworm could reall}^ be of any use 

 to France, and it was not without reluctance, therefore, that he 

 carried out the commands of Henry IV. to provide for the estab- 

 lishment of silk-culture. 



The cultivation of silk, as of tea, had its rise in China, and 

 spread from thence to Japan. But it has undoubtedly a far greater 

 antiquity, for it is referred to in ancient Chinese records, as well as 

 in the Old Testament and in the Greek classics,^ from Herodotus. 

 W. Williams " states that according to the oldest mythological 

 accounts silk-culture began about 2600 B.C. At that time, they 

 say, the Empress Lui Tsu, in Shan-tung, began to raise silkworms 

 and make fabrics out of their webs. She was afterwards wor- 

 shipped as the goddess of silk, under the name of Yuenfi, and in 

 the palace at Pekin a temple was dedicated to her, in which to this 

 day the Empress of China, as protectress of silk-culture, annually 

 offers homage to her, and brings certain sacrifices in April, at the 

 beginning of the year's breeding. 



" The word by which the Chinese designated silk, migrated with 

 the article, and we find it mentioned at a very early date by this 

 name or others derived from it " (Von Richthofen). The Corean 

 si7% the Greek 0-77^, and our various expressions, are derived from 

 sz' (also ss2i^ see, and sse), the Chinese term for silk, and the affix 

 orr (V). The Sedan (?) stuffs come from the Serians, in the land 

 of Sera, from which also originated the word Serica, as a name for 

 China. According to Von Richthofen, the present city of Khotan 

 represents the Issedon Serica of Ptolemaeus. Thither in former 

 times silk culture had been transplanted from the Chinese Orient. 

 And by Sera metropolis he meant the Chinese city of Hsi-ngan-fu. 

 Tshang-ye, the present Kan-tshdu was the great silk emporium of 

 more recent times, when, according to Procopius, two monks 

 (Nestorians) brought silkworm eggs to the Greek emperor Justinian 

 from the land of " Serida." From time immemorial the minister 

 Yu (later Emperor Yan) is mentioned as the most prominent 

 promoter of silk-culture. He planted the hill-country of Shansi 

 with mulberries. 



Silk is now produced in every province in China, particularly in 

 Che-kiang, Kwang-tung, Sz'tshwan, Honan, Kiang-su, and Kwei- 

 tshou. The best silk comes from the province of Che-kiang, 

 especially its north-west corner, though even this does not equal 

 Italian or Cevennes silk. It appears from the statistical table that 

 China still stands first amongst the silk-producing countries of the 



^ See in particular the interesting remarks on this subject in v. Richthofen's 

 " China," i. 443, and Yule's " Cathay," 159. 

 2 " The Middle Kingdom," ii. p. 39. 



