368 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA. 



has shown that these moths will not breed a second genera- 

 tion of healthy silk-producing insects in captivity, and a 

 fresh supply is therefore procured annually from their native 

 hills. They live chiefly on the leaves of the saj tree, whose 

 foliage, being deciduous, wou]d not afford safety to the insect 

 in its chrysalis stage, if the cocoon were attached, as other 

 pecies are, to the leaf alone. The instinct of the little 

 creature teaches it therefore to anchor its cocoon by a strong 

 silken rope to the leaf-stalk, where it sways about in safety 

 after every leaf has dropped from the tree. The cocoons 

 brought from the jungles by the breeders are attached to 

 pollarded saj trees, grown near their villages, till the moths 

 have hatched and paired, when the females are captured and 

 made to lay their eggs in close vessels, where they are in- 

 cubated by heat. The worms reared from the eggs are again 

 placed on the saj trees, where they form their cocoons, which 

 are then spun into the rough silk known as " tusser." The 

 business is a very precarious one, much depending for success 

 on favourable weather. Superstition of course seizes this un- 

 certainty for her own; and the purchased blessings of the 

 Byga" priest must accompany the cocoons from their native 

 hills, if the breeder of the plains is to expect success. 



Besides such scanty exportation of the minor produce of 

 these wilds as I have described, almost their only economic 

 use has hitherto been the splendid grazing they afford for 

 countless herds of cattle, annually brought to them from great 

 distances in the open country on both sides during the hot 

 season. Fine grass and abundance of shade and water make 

 this one of the finest grazing countries in all India ; and the 

 amount of wealth which thus actually seems to depend on its 

 continuance as a waste is very great. 



At first sight some hesitation might be felt at the prospect 



