HEARING SILKWORMS. 107 



appearance. These houses are the homes of the 

 laboring classes. 



Wages are very low. The wants of the peas- 

 antry are few, and not very well supplied. They 

 have no home luxuries, and few indeed of what 

 we call the comforts of life. Their food consists 

 largely of some kind of coarse meal, which they 

 cook in some way two or three times a week, and 

 then they eat it with sour wine. They have no 

 means of heating their houses, save one large 

 fireplace, and even this they are unable to 

 supply with fuel, as w r ood is very dear. It is 

 quite customary when mothers see their infants 

 shivering with cold, to take them out to the 

 stables w 7 here the stock is kept, that they may 

 there feel the warmth generated by living bodies. 



The landlords supply everything for their 

 tenants, and they work partly on shares, always 

 seeking to retain the lion's share for themselves. 



As well as supplying all material to work with, 

 the land-owners have to keep everything in 

 repair. They also irrigate, and this is an abso- 

 lute necessity to success in any line of agri- 

 culture. Their entire water system is in the 

 hands of an English syndicate, and they charge 

 enormously for irrigation. 



When the tenants are not busy with silk, they 

 are engaged in other lines of work. They culti- 

 vate some fruit and raise stock for market. To 



