188 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



and as big as one's forefinger ; its wings were of the palest 

 apple-green, also inset with the talc-like windows, and 

 finished off with the stems like peacocks' feathers — they all 

 had those. All were of enormous span, but the Atlas the 

 greatest. 



The moths were all very well ; nobody minded them ; 

 but there were too many — so our friends said. Their cocoons 

 had filled several foot-square biscuit tins when packed ; then 

 when they began to multiply, and the eggs hatched out into 

 minute, wriggling life, the numbers were not to be guessed 

 at except by those who have tried breeding them. News- 

 paper trays, made by pinning up the corners to a height 

 of some three inches, lined the tables ; no tray might stand 

 upon another, obstructing air and light from the occupants. 

 No ; fresh space must be found for them, whoever was 

 squeezed out. 



As to their food, the wild mulberry flourished abundantly 

 all over the district — a fact ascertained before this enter- 

 prise was set on foot ; and other plants and leaves were 

 equally relished, especially the castor-oil ; so we could rest 

 assured that their sustenance would never run short, and 

 could be varied. The collecting of it was a business, how- 

 ever. Mere men were unequal to the task, so two carts 

 and two pairs of bullocks were bought ; none too many 

 either, for they had to go miles, as tree after tree, plant after 

 plant was denuded. The villagers reaped a good harvest 

 by selling us their castor-oil leaves, as every one grows these 

 plants for the oil, which they use in lamps, also for feeding 

 their babies and older children ; for feeding, not doctoring, 

 the native bread and biscuit being dipped in the crude oil 

 and given to them to suck. They thrive on it, too ! I 

 remember that the first time I saw a baby being thus fed, 

 the mother softening the bread in a little clay lamp saucer, 

 wherein floated the wick, it shocked me so much that I told 

 her to come up to the bungalow for proper baby food. She 



