9 



rear silkworms, and the Emperor Hwang-te was induced 

 to invent robes and garments from this circumstance. 



But Dr. Balfour states* as follows : " There seems to be no 

 doubt that China is the country where the product of the 

 silkworm was first used as a material for textile fabrics, 

 and that the industry has gradually radiated from China, as 

 a centre, till it covers, at the present day, a number of very 

 widely distributed areas of very diverse climatic conditions. 

 The Chinese historians carry back the cultivation of the 

 mulberry and the breeding of silkworms to the period of 

 myths. If they are to be believed, the art of silk reeling- 

 was known in China in the time of Fouh-hi, a century 

 before the date usually assigned to the Biblical deluge, and 

 the Empress Si-ling-chi, wife of the celebrated Hoang-ti 

 (2,602 years before the Chistian era) did not disdain to 

 share in the labours attending the care of the insect, as 

 well as in those of the loom, the invention of which seems 

 to be attributed to her, and to have raised her to the 

 position of a tutelary genius, with special altars of her own. 

 But whatever the precise date of the discovery, it appears 

 there can be no question of the very high antiquity of the 

 knowledge of the worm and its product in China. A series 

 of imperial edicts and a voluminous literature of practical 

 treatises testify to the importance of the industry and the 

 care that was taken to foster an art which was considered, 

 according to M. cle Rosny, ' best fitted to promote the 

 morality of the people and extinguish pauperism in the 

 empire.' " 



The queen and wives of the nobles through successive 

 generations personally attended to the rearing of the silk- 

 worms. 



That this silk was of the mulberry-fed kind is evident 

 from a further extract from the " Silkworm Classic," which 

 says that afterwards, " when Yu regulated the waters, B.C. 

 " 2200, mention is made in his work on the tribute of the 

 " land adapted for the mulberry tree having been supplied 

 " with silkworms, from which time the advantage thereof 

 " gradually increased."! 



It is not known whether silk was utilised in India at so 

 early a period as this, probably not ; but that India learned 

 the art from China is generally understood, although at 

 what period is not known. 



About the middle of the sixth century, the Western World 

 received a supply of silkworms' eggs. These were conveyed 



* Cyclopaedia of India, vol. 5, p. 335. 



f Horsfield and Moore's Catalogue, p. 377. 



